Amazing Glowing
scientists spotted this
bizarre jellyfish around the Mariana
Trench in the Pacific Ocean.
Exploration
and Research, 2016 Deepwater
With red and yellow lights seeming to glow
inside its bulbous body, a newfound jellyfish
looks more alien spaceship than deep-sea
cnidarian.
Using a remotely operated vehicle (ROV),
marine scientists dove to the deepest part of
the world's oceans, called the Mariana
Trench , east of the Mariana Islands near
Guam in the western Pacific Ocean; they were
exploring the so-called Enigma Seamount
(named for the lack of information scientists
have on it) when they came upon this
surreal-looking creature.
Video captured of the jellyfish reveals a
stunning sight: The organism sports two sets
of tentacles, long and short, that extend from
its pulsating bell. When the long tentacles are
extended outward, the jellyfish's bell remains
still. That feature, the researchers noted in a
statement by the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), suggests
the jellyfish is an ambush predator. [Video:
Watch the Alien Jellyfish in Action]
Inside the bell, which resembles a flying
saucer of sorts, are red canals that seem to
connect bright-yellow gonads, according to
the scientists. From the looks of the jellyfish,
the researchers identified it as belonging to
the genus Crossota.
Scientists operating the ROV Deep Discoverer
from aboard the research vessel Okeanos
Explorer found the jellyfish on April 24 at a
depth of 12,140 feet (3,700 meters). This
was the fourth dive for the ROV for the first
leg of a mission called the 2016 Deepwater
Exploration of the Marianas, a three-cruise
expedition run by NOAA and partners with the
goal of understanding the deep-water
habitats in and around the Mariana Trench.
During the dive, the scientists found other
fascinating features of this underwater
mountain they call Enigma Seamount.
"Its morphology is quite different from other
seamounts in the region, which generally
have a flat top with steep, smooth sides
radiating out into narrow ridges," they wrote
in a daily log of the expedition. "By contrast,
this one is more circular in form and the
sides are much less smooth."
The bright-yellow "lights" inside the
jellyfish's bell are likely gonads, the
researchers say.
Credit: NOAA Office of Ocean Exploration
and Research, 2016 Deepwater
Exploration of the Marianas
Throughout the ROV dive, the researchers
also noticed "small, rounded balls that looked
like they had been constructed from
sediment," they wrote. The balls could be a
large species of single-celled amoeba or they
could be marine sponges, the researchers
said. Though deep-sea animals were scarce,
the researchers said they did observe some
wacky creatures, including "stalked crinoids
and primnoid corals, swimming polychaete
worms, a cusk eel, Caulophacus sponges,
cladhorizid sponges, a Munidopsis squat
lobster, a beautiful hydrozoan jellyfish and at
least two Nematocarcinus shrimp."
This leg of the expedition is scheduled to end
May 11, with the second leg slated for a May
20 departure, with the third leg set to begin
June 17.
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