Sat Mar 23, 2024 11:33 pm by globalturbo
New species of surreal jellyfish discovered in Enigma Seamount at a depth of 3,700 meters
NOAA video 
NOAA video
Scientists believe this animal belongs to the genus Crossota, a group of jellies that does not have a sessile polyp stage; all phases of their lives are ocean drifters. They also believe this animal is an ambush predator – note the posture it had assumed in the first half of the video: its bell motionless with its tentacles outstretched like the struts of a spider’s web, waiting for something to bumble into them. The red canals, they suggest, appear to connect the bright yellow objects, which may be gonads.
Thanks to: http://strangesounds.org
In what looks more like a scene out of a James Cameron movie, this improbable creature suddenly popped into the frame of researchers on a NOAA expedition aboard the Okeanos Explorer in the Marianas Trench.
With just a few wiry tentacles and a cluster of 8 brightly reflective orbs inside its body, this new jellyfish looks more like something from the realm of Photoshop than science. But incredibly, it’s real, living mysteriously at 2.3 miles (~3,700 meters) underwater.
NOAA video NOAA videoScientists believe this animal belongs to the genus Crossota, a group of jellies that does not have a sessile polyp stage; all phases of their lives are ocean drifters. They also believe this animal is an ambush predator – note the posture it had assumed in the first half of the video: its bell motionless with its tentacles outstretched like the struts of a spider’s web, waiting for something to bumble into them. The red canals, they suggest, appear to connect the bright yellow objects, which may be gonads.
Thanks to: http://strangesounds.org
