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More than two decades after spotting a mysterious, gelatinous, bioluminescent creature swimming in the deep sea, California researchers announced this week that it was a new species of sea slug.
MONTEREY, California – More than two decades after spotting a mysterious, gelatinous, bioluminescent creature swimming in the deep sea, California researchers announced this week that it is a new species of sea slug.
The Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute video posted online of the new sea snail floating gently in the depths.
Using a remote vehicle, scientists at the institute first spotted what they called a “mystery mollusk” at a depth of 2,614 meters in the Pacific Ocean in February 2000.
“With a voluminous structure with a hood at one end, a flat tail lined with numerous finger-like projections at the other end, and colorful internal organs between them, the team initially had difficulty placing this animal in a group,” the institute said in a statement. Tuesday.
After reviewing more than 150 sightings of the creature and studying it in a laboratory, researchers determined it was a new type of slug, or sea slug. It lives in the so-called midnight zone, an area of the deep ocean known for “cold temperatures, inky darkness and crushing pressure,” the statement said.
The findings were published in the journal Deep Sea Research Part I.