The mysterious creature that was recorded by a deep sea ROV has finally been identified.
When the video was posted onto YouTube suggestions as to its identity ranged from a whale placenta to a fishing net.
But now experts have confirmed that the creature in the video is deep sea jellyfish called Deepstaria enigmatica, which reaches around 60cm/24" in size and according to Wikipedia "resembles a translucent, folding sheet or "lava lamp" as the animal moves."
Steven Haddock from the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute wrote on the JellyWatch Facebook page: "This bag-like jelly is not that rare, but is large, so rarely seen intact. In the video, the swirling from the sub makes the medusa appear to undulate, and it even turns inside-out."
Craig McClain from the National Evolutionary Synthesis Centre, explained that the confusing whitish lumps seen in the video are actually the jellyfish’s gonads.
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