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Deep in an underwater canyon off the coast of Puerto Rico, there is a party of balloon-like sea creatures that keep things festive in the abyssal depths.
Their bodies are small – about the size of a golf tee (just over 2 inches or 6 centimeters long) – but they are vibrant; as the creatures move and pulsate, rows of tiny hair-like eyelashes refract light in a prism of brilliant colors.
Researchers from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) first spotted these mysterious party spots in 2015, when they spotted three near the seabed at a depth of about 13,000 feet (4,000 meters). Now, in an article published on November 18 in the journal Plankton and benthos research, the team identified the spots as a new species of ctenophore – tiny invertebrate predators also known as comb jellies or “sea nuts” – called Duobrachium sparksae.
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Although their tiny bodies and shimmering eyelashes are commonly shared traits among the more than 100 known ctenophores species, the Puerto Rican Party blobs still represent an exciting first in marine biology. According to the researchers, it is the first underwater species that NOAA researchers have ever described from images alone; the team did not have access to the physical samples for their new study.
“The cameras on the [remotely operated] The Deep Discoverer robot is capable of obtaining high-resolution images and measuring structures smaller than a millimeter, ”said study co-author Allen Collins, a fisheries scientist at NOAA, said in a press release. “We don’t have the same microscopes as we would in a lab, but the video can give us enough information to understand the morphology in detail. “
Despite their name, comb jellies are not related to astonished, although they share a similar gelatinous appearance. D. sparksae is no exception, with eight rows of spiky eyelashes that wrap around a translucent body. This body ends in two points attached to long, slender tentacles, giving the creature the appearance of a floating balloon with two “floating jaws,” each attached to its own chain, Collins said.
One of three specimens the team encountered appeared to be “anchored” to the seabed by its tentacles, the researchers wrote. Using a pair of lasers on their underwater robot, the researchers measured the approximate length of this specimen’s body and tentacles, finding that the tentacles were about five times as long as the body of the jelly ( each tentacle was 12 inches or 30 cm long). When the jelly moved, it moved “like a hot air balloon,” maintaining a specific altitude above the ocean floor, said lead study author Michael Ford, also of NOAA.
Many questions remain about these elusive deep-water frosts, including the role they play in their ecosystem. More video footage of the blobs will provide additional clues, but to lead a DNA analytical researchers will need to put their gloves on an intact specimen. This may be easier said than done, as the jelly-like animals have a very short shelf life outside of deep water, the researchers said.
“Even if we had the equipment, there would have been very little time to process the animal because gelatinous animals don’t store very well; ctenophores are even worse than jellyfish in this regard,” Collins said. . “High quality video and photography were essential in describing this new species.”
Originally posted on Live Science.
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