Unidentified deep-sea creature
On June 11, the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC) released photographs of a mysterious deep-sea creature believed to be an unknown species of comb jelly, or ctenophore, a jellyfish-like marine animal. Taken by JAMSTEC’s “Kaikou” unmanned submersible at a depth of 7,217 meters (nearly 24,000 feet) in the Ryukyu Trench about 200 kilometers (125 miles) south of Okinawa, the photographs show a gelatinous animal with two pairs of long, spindly tentacles — one pair extended horizontally in front of its body and one pair stuck to the ocean floor, allowing the creature to float in place like a kite.
The creature’s elongated body is 10 to 20 centimeters (4 to 8 inches) long and 5 to 8 centimeters (2 to 3 inches) wide. The rear tentacles measure 1.5 to 2.5 meters (5 to 8 feet) in length, while the forward-reaching tentacles, which float on the current and catch prey, measure between 1 and 1.5 meters (3 to 5 feet) in length. The animal’s gastrovascular system, which circulates nutrients through the body, appears whitish in color.
JAMSTEC filmed the gelatinous animal in April 2002, and subsequent research has led the researchers to conclude it is very likely a new species. However, they are unable to say for certain until they capture an actual specimen.
[Source: Asahi, JAMSTEC press release, photos]
I’d never seen something like that.
There is so much unknown species in very deep seas.
It makes me think to the 24 new species discovered in Surinam. We have so much to learn about the Nature !
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huh. it’s probibly a regular jellyfish that got beat up a bit. it happens all the time. people get all excited about finding a “new species” when it is infact a very common species, just deformed or scar’d. i wouldnt put any money on that one.
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You are a moron. You obviously have yet to view for yourself what really lies in the deep ocean if you see this creature as “just a deformed organism”. If you have, you would know the strange, yet extremely fascinating, marine life that inhabit the deep oceans of the world. Take the Marrus Orthocanna for example. How does its shape and design have anything to do with it keeping itself alive? Where are its eyes? Does it even have any? Did it always look like this? All these questions are a mystery as these creatures have adapted to live the life they do without us knowing how or why.
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