Advertisement

natureNaturenatureanimals
clockPUBLISHED

Deep-Sea Footage Captures Blood-Red Jellyfish That May Be A Brand New Species

author

Maddy Chapman

author

Maddy Chapman

Copy Editor and Staff Writer

Maddy is a Copy Editor and Staff Writer at IFLScience, with a degree in biochemistry from the University of York.

Copy Editor and Staff Writer

red jellyfish

The jellyfish is red, the sea is blue, researchers think the species is new. Thanks for coming to our poetry reading. Image credit: NOAA Ocean Exploration, 2021 North Atlantic Stepping Stones: New England and Corner Rise Seamounts

A blood-red, never-before-seen species of jellyfish has been spotted off the coast of Newport, Rhode Island. During an ambitious deep-ocean expedition, researchers from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) discovered the crimson creature minding its own business almost 700 meters (2,300 feet) below sea level.

The jelly, which is yet to be named, was discovered during a deep-water dive on July 28 and was filmed by the team as part of NOAA’s North Atlantic Stepping Stones expedition. The expedition also discovered various other animals, including ctenophores (also known as comb jellies), cnidarians, crustaceans, and Actinopterygii (ray-finned fishes). The team “saw several undescribed families and potential new species,” Quinn Girasek, a NOAA intern who was part of the expedition as a “scientist from shore” said in a statement

Advertisement


Among these potentially novel species is our mysterious new friend, the red jelly. It's thought to belong to the genus 
Poralia, which is currently a monotypic genus – it contains only one species, Poralia rufescens. P. rufescens is found in many of the world's deep oceans, though most often in the Caribbean. However, the researchers believe that their new discovery could be a previously undescribed species – a second blood-red jellyfish to join the Poralia family.

“It appears that the jellyfish in the video ... has many more tentacles than seen in the described Poralia rufescens, leading scientists to believe the jellyfish ... is an undescribed species,” NOAA told McClatchy News.

“The jellyfish ... also seemed to have nematocyst warts on the exumbrella (the upper part or outside of the jellyfish’s bell) that probably function both for defense but also to trap prey. The radial canals of this genus often branch randomly, which is not usual for other related jellyfish.”

The jellyfish was discovered on dive 20 of a 25-dive expedition which spanned from late June to late July of this year. Earlier in the expedition, the team came across a “real-life SpongeBob and Patrick” – a sea sponge hanging out with a starfish 1,885 meters (6,184 feet) underwater.


 This Week in IFLScience

Receive our biggest science stories to your inbox weekly!


ARTICLE POSTED IN

natureNaturenatureanimals
  • tag
  • animals,

  • sea creature

FOLLOW ONNEWSGoogele News