Scientists were lucky enough to come face-to-face with a rare jellyfish and lasso it only 9 times in history.
The ghostly predator jellyfish known as Stygiomedusa gigantea lives so deep in the ocean that encountering such a jellyfish is truly a miracle. But this time they were lucky – scientists managed not only to see and catch the giant jellyfish, but also to catch it, writes the Daily Star.
These predatory giants are among the largest jellyfish in the world. They reach a width of about one meter, and their tentacle arms grow to an impressive 10 meters. Researchers believe that jellyfish use their giant tentacles to catch their prey and then put them in their mouths.
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This time, a deep-sea ghost jellyfish appeared off the coast of California, where researchers from the Monterey Aquarium Research Institute in California (USA) spotted it at a depth of about 900 meters. This giant species was first discovered and described in 1899, since then scientists have encountered it no more than 100 times and have been able to catch even fewer – only 9 times in this history.
It is known that a giant jellyfish emits impulses that enable it to move in the water column with the help of its luminous head.
Note that earlier scientists used trawler nets only for deep-sea exploration – although this method may be suitable for studying powerful creatures, it is very dangerous and can damage the fragile body of the jellyfish. Fortunately, much has changed since then, and scientists today have underwater tools in their arsenal that allow them to observe and study deep-sea creatures without harming them.
Scientists suggest that these ghost jellyfish are not only one of the largest representatives of their species, but also one of the oldest creatures on earth. Stygiomedusa gigantea has been floating in the depths of the ocean for 500 million years, so in principle they have been on the planet for almost twice as long as, for example, dinosaurs.
Previously Focus He wrote that scientists have managed to film for the first time how sharks walk on their fins and hover over their heads on the seabed – great footage shows how nurse sharks eat.
Source: Focus
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