On our day off a few weeks ago, Hubby and I had a to-do list that included laundry, groceries to buy, errands to run, and things to do around the house. So, we spent most of the day at the beach. We didn’t even feel guilty, as it was the first time we’d been to the beach since Doug’s brother and his wife visited last spring. The weather was perfect, with a nice breeze, and the beach was largely deserted. We set up our spot, lazed in the sun (Hubby in the shade), then took a refreshing dip in the ocean. It wasn’t until we walked the beach a little later that we noticed the massive numbers of jellyfish washed up on the shore.

The thought ran through my mind that if there were that many jellyfish strewn on the shore, how many more were swimming around us in the water? This unsettling thought creeped me out and made me reconsider venturing back into the water. Jellyfish are strange-looking creatures, and upon further reflection, the Prevagen commercial popped into my head. If you watch television geared toward old people, you’ve probably seen the advertisement for Prevagen, a supplement claiming to support brain health and improve mild memory loss. A visual for the ad is a jellyfish, which seems a little odd until you understand that the active ingredient in Prevagen is apoaequorin, a protein found in jellyfish.

Now, before you go out and buy stock in Quincy Biosciences, the company that makes Prevagen, consider a few facts. Prevagen is widely known thanks to the company’s massive budget for television advertising. It has also been the subject of extensive legal issues related to false claims based on one clinical study. According to Web M.D., research shows the active ingredient likely gets digested in the stomach before any of it reaches the brain.

Observing all the jellyfish stranded on the beach, I had to wonder just how intelligent these creatures are. If the protein they contain is miraculous enough to boost complex human brain function, why isn’t it working in their simple nervous systems to relay the message, “Hey, get back in the ocean before you dry out and die?”

And, if, according to Wikipedia, jellyfish have been in existence for at least 500 million years and possibly 700 million years or more (give or take 200 million years—but what’s a few million years here and there), making them the oldest multi-organ animal group, wouldn’t you think they would have evolved enough over those hundreds of millions of years to at least be able to crawl back into the ocean instead of lying helpless in the sand just waiting for the tide to come back in? Just sayin’. Evolution kind of flies in the face of observation in this species. And after all this time, they still haven’t developed brains, hearts, or eyes. If jellyfish don’t have brains, I think I’ll pass on using their protein for my own brain.