New footage exhibiting a peculiar-looking large sprawling sea creature languidly floating within the depths of the Pacific Ocean has researchers questioning if what they’re seeing is a brand new species.
A staff of scientists noticed the unusual animal aboard the E/V Nautilusa analysis vessel utilized by the Ocean Exploration Belief, a non-profit group conducting analysis on the excessive seas.
In a newly launched video, expedition researchers booed and hooted as pictures of the weird creature got here into focus.
“My thoughts is blown proper now,” one of many scientists on board might be heard saying off-camera, because the boat’s remotely operated automobile (ROV) scans the ocean ground and zooms in on the eerie sight. “I am not on the sting of my seat or something,” joked one other scientist.
Moments later, scientists noticed one other of the weird creatures close by, though they had been unable to report video of the second particular person.
With tentacles extending 16 inches (40 centimeters) from a virtually 7 foot lengthy (2 meter) stem and a single feeding polyp with barbed tentacles taking the polyp like spiny petals, the creature seemed like a really unusual free-swimming flower that was concerning the measurement of the ROV.
It was noticed on July 7 at 9,823 toes (2,994 m) under the floor close to a beforehand unexplored seamount north of Johnston Atoll, an unincorporated U.S. territory and Nationwide Wildlife Refuge within the Pacific Ocean west of Hawaii.
The researchers first suspected that that they had crossed paths with Monocephalus Solumbellulaoften known as the Solumbellula sea pen, a part of the Cnidaria phylum which incorporates jellyfish, hydras and corals.
Nonetheless, the one recognized sightings of sea pens earlier than that occurred within the Atlantic and Indian Oceans, so it is attainable scientists have stumbled upon a brand new species.
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Steve Auscavitch, the expedition’s principal investigator and a deep-sea biologist and post-doctoral researcher at Boston College, described the sighting as “fascinating”.
“Occasionally we come throughout one thing we did not count on to see, and people are sometimes probably the most highly effective observations,” he advised Reside Science.
He added: “We had been nearing the tip of our cruise and had been on the backside of the seabed once we noticed the 2 [sea pens]. The one we captured on video was huge, presumably the identical measurement or bigger than Hercules, our ROV. After I noticed this unimaginable sea pen on video, I knew precisely what it might be.”
However simply to make sure, Auscavitch sought the recommendation of biologists ashore, who helped verify his suspicions that it was a sea pen, a relative of coral.
Primarily based on the animal’s spectacular measurement, Auscavitch assumed it was relatively previous, however he can not give a exact age. (Sea pens attain maturity at 5 or 6 years and may reside for greater than a decade.)
“Earlier than that, Monocephalus Solumbellula had by no means been seen within the central Pacific and by no means collected,” he stated.
Curiously, his staff’s discovery got here a number of months after Spanish scientists named two new genera of sea pens: Pseudumbellule and solumbellule, the latter together with the brand new species. These outcomes had been revealed in February within the journal Invertebrate systematics.
Nonetheless, Auscavitch stated extra analysis must be achieved to find out if that is the primary Pacific Monocephalus Solumbellula or probably a brand new species within the ocean basin.
“Findings like this are uncommon, and we did not count on to see one thing like this,” he stated. “Probably the most thrilling a part of this analysis is that we come throughout these items infrequently, and it actually expands our horizons on the place animals can reside and exist within the deep sea.”
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This text was initially revealed by Reside Science. Learn the unique article right here.
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