Explorers discover "live balloons" in the Java pit, new species?

KOMPAS.com – Some time ago, scientists from around the world explored the Java pit as part of an expedition entitled Five Deeps. Uniquely, in the Java pit, these scientists discovered a balloon-like species attached to a rope.

The live balloon was filmed by explorers right at the bottom of the Hidua Ocean.

"We just watched the video and saw the creature come out of the dark," said Alan Jamieson, chief shipping scientist, quoted in Science live, Thursday (18/04/2019).

"The creature floated in the direction of the camera … and then it's" sleepy, "added the keynote speaker at Newcastle University.

Read also: More about Dental Mastodon, researchers find new species

Jamieson describes the creature as an animal carrying a tentacle. This makes the creature like a balloon tied to a rope.

Intrigued by the species encountered, Jamieson then conducted a literature search. He discovered that a Japanese literature 20 years ago was describing something similar to his discoveries.

Although similar, however, there are major differences from Jamieson's findings with Japanese literature. The creature in nature has filaments coming out of his head, unlike those seen by Jamieson.

According to Jamieson, there is a good chance it will be a new species. This is because there is no record of such creatures living in depths of more than 6,500 meters.

He said, this creature is most likely anchored on the seabed with its long tentacles. The species then remains silent on the seismically active seabed.

Jamieson argues that the creature's very long tentacles can be useful for filtering food up to 1 meter above the seabed.

"Our scientific team was not surprised to see some creatures considered new species," said Victor Vescovo, founder of the expedition.

Nevertheless, all the creatures encountered during the dive were not news to the members of the expedition team. They also encountered sea stars, sea cucumbers and mollusc fish at the bottom of the sea.

The expedition team explored five oceans around the world. In meeting the "real balloon", this team had explored the Atlantic Ocean, the ocean south of Antarctica and the Indian Ocean (where this discovery took place).

Read also: Can fluorescence in the dark be discovered in Brazil?

According to Vescovo, of the three oceans, the Indian Ocean has become the densest of life. Despite this, there are not many surprises in the Indian Ocean.

After the Java pit, the team will head to the Mariana Trench in the Pacific Ocean. The Mariana Pit is the deepest part of the entire ocean on Earth.