A team of deep-sea scientists launched an exploration mission earlier this month and their underwater recon robot found a limbless creature, which was hovering like an alien ghost over the Pacific seafloor. But within a few moments the team noticed that the mysterious creature suddenly transformed into translucent windsock with a red splotch stuck to its innermost part.
But that bell-shaped blob was not an alien, said the researchers, who encountered the weird creature. They clarified that this weird creature is actually one of the rarest-seen and least-studied jellyfish in the sea, called Deepstaria.
It should be mentioned that this rare creature was first discovered in the 1960s and was seen only a dozen or so times in the last half century.
Even though there is very less information available regarding this armless, shapeshifting creature, the researchers know that it has an ability to expand its body to engulf any nearby prey.
But what was that red spot inside its belly? While making the video of the underwater creature, the Nautilus team zoomed into that particular section and found that it was a tiny, still-living isopod, one of the most morphologically diverse of all the crustacean groups.
The researchers stated that it is possible that the isopod may have willingly swum into this creature's open body for protection from other predators.
A very little is known about the Deepstaria jellies and such bottom-feeding crustacean, as there a few specimens were studied earlier.
However, it should be noted that both the deep ocean creatures were found almost 2500 feet under the Central Pacific. This finding will help the future exploration programs and further research on such rare creatures. Meanwhile, the team of the researchers will continue their search operation to find more weird ocean residents through October.
