Video Shows Bizarre Sea Creature You Won’t Believe Exist
In a recent video that’s been baffling researchers, a massive and odd-looking marine creature with extended tentacles can be seen serenely floating in the Pacific Ocean depths. The footage led researchers to speculate if this is a previously unknown species.
The peculiar marine life was detected by scientists during a deep-sea exploration on board the E/V Nautilus, a research ship utilized by the Ocean Exploration Trust. As the enigmatic creature’s images became visible, the onboard scientists were heard exclaiming in awe.
Off-camera, one scientist expressed, “My mind is blown right now,” while the vessel’s remotely operated vehicle (ROV) slowly approached the unusual sight on the ocean floor.
Another scientist added, “I’m not on the edge of my seat or nothing.”
Shortly after, they observed another similar specimen nearby, though they couldn’t capture it on video.
The creature, possessing 16-inch (40 cm) long tentacles extending from a nearly 7-foot-long (2 meters) stalk, and a single feeding polyp enclosed by barbed tentacles that looked like spiked petals, seemed like a bizarre, autonomous underwater bloom roughly the size of the ROV.
It was sighted almost 9,823 feet (2,994 m) beneath the ocean surface near a hitherto unexplored seamount to the north of Johnston Atoll, a National Wildlife Refuge and unincorporated U.S. territory in the Pacific Ocean, west of Hawaii.
The researchers initially hypothesized that they encountered Solumbellula monocephalus, or a Solumbellula sea pen, a member of the Cnidaria phylum that includes jellyfish, hydras, and coral. However, since known sightings of sea pens have been restricted to the Atlantic and Indian Oceans, it’s plausible they’ve discovered a new species.
The leading researcher of the expedition, Steve Auscavitch, a deep-sea biologist and post-doctoral scholar at Boston University, found the sighting “fascinating.” He mentioned to Live Science that “From time to time, we come across something that we never expected to see, and those are often the most powerful observations.”
Towards the end of their expedition, they spotted the two sea pens at the seabed. The one caught on video was potentially as large or larger than their ROV, Hercules. Auscavitch, however, verified his identification with other biologists ashore, who concurred it was a sea pen, a type of coral. Due to its enormous size, Auscavitch inferred it must be quite old, but couldn’t determine the exact age. (Sea pens mature around five or six years and can survive for over a decade.)
Auscavitch mentioned that Solumbellula monocephalus was never previously sighted or collected in the central Pacific. Fascinatingly, this discovery followed the naming of two new sea pen genera by Spanish scientists: Pseudumbellula and Solumbellula, the latter potentially including this new species.
This research was published in the journal Invertebrate Systematics.
However, Auscavitch asserts further research is needed to ascertain whether this is the first Pacific Solumbellula monocephalus or potentially a novel species in the oceanic basin.
Auscavitch concluded, noting, “Findings like this are rare, and we never expected to see something like this. The most exciting part of this research is that we come across these things from time to time, and it really does expand our horizon about where animals can live and exist in the deep sea.”
Image Credit: Stil from the video