In 2024 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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