Researchers stumbled upon the otherworldly colony of organisms on their way to an explored seamount off the coast of Chile.
Researchers on the Schmidt Ocean Institute’s Nazca High Seas expedition were on their way to dive along an unexplored – and as yet unnamed – seamount when their ROV saw a strange creature, sometimes called the ‘flying spaghetti monster’, 665 metres below the surface.
“Bathyphysa siphonophore is a carnivorous colonial organism that lives in the bathypelagic zone of the ocean, between 1,000 and 3,000 metres,” says Schmidt Ocean Institute.
“A medusoid and polyp-like zooids combine to form the animal’s body, which can be several metres long with tentacles.”
“Zooids are multicellular units that develop from a single fertilised egg,” explains Schmidt Ocean Institute.
“They combine to form colonies where each zooid performs a necessary job — reproduction, digestion, flotation, and body positioning. Talk about teamwork!”
This is one of many expeditions that the Institute has supported along the Nazca, Salas y Gómez, and Juan Fernandez Ridges with new discoveries being made all the time. Who knows what they’ll find next!
Video and image credits: Schmidt Ocean Institute
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