[Animals] 10 bizarre deep sea creatures found in 2022

[BirSaNN]

Lots of bizarre deep sea creatures were spotted in 2022. Here are some of our favorites.

If you want to see an alien creature then stop searching the cosmos and take a trip to the bottom of the sea.

The ocean's depths are full of weird and wonderful creatures, and as humans venture deeper into the abyss more and more of them are being spotted. In 2022, scientists spotted an entire aquarium's worth of deep sea beauties. From blue goo and gummy squirrels to a spaghetti worm and Jell-O fish, here are our favorites.

Luminous lump of spaghetti

A bizarre seafloor creature covered with luminous orange, spaghetti-like tentacles caused a stir online. 

Researchers from the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI) first spotted the spaghetti worm, from the genus Biremis, using a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) in 2012 while they were exploring the Gulf of California off the coast of Mexico. 

The pasta-mimicking worm has no eyes or gills and uses its colorful tentacles to catch the tiny pieces of organic detritus, also known as marine snow, that falls to the seafloor.

Most spaghetti worms live in burrows or tunnels below the seafloor and only poke their noodle-like tentacles into the water to snatch up bits of food. But this Biremis worm spends its life above the ocean bottom and has previously been observed swimming through the water or crawling along the seafloor to find locations where food is plentiful.

Read more: Weird deep-sea worm looks like a luminous lump of spaghetti

Squid mom carries pearl-like eggs

 

Extremely rare footage of a squid mom carrying a gelatinous string of glimmering pearl-like eggs in her arms was captured in the dark ocean depths off the California coast.

MBARI researchers spotted the deep-sea squid (an unknown species in the genus Bathyteuthis) with an ROV around 56 miles (90 kilometers) off the coast at a depth of 4,560 feet (1,390 meters). 

Squid moms don't usually brood, or carry their eggs. Most females will release their eggs on the seafloor or in large gelatinous clumps. Brooding may increase the eggs' chance of hatching, but it likely also increases the risk of predation for the mother, which is why it is so rare. 

The overprotective mum may look large in the image compared to her eggs but, in reality, her mantle — the main part of a squid's body containing all the major organs — can only grow to a maximum length of 3 inches (7.5 centimeters).

Read more: Deep-sea squid mom carries dazzling pearl-like string of eggs

Gummy squrrel

 

A bizarre gelatinous creature that resembles a half-peeled banana was spotted by researchers in the Pacific Ocean. The creature, known as a gummy squirrel (Psychropotes longicauda), is actually a sea cucumber and was around 2 feet (60 cm) long.

The gummy squirrel was one of 55 specimens collected by scientists from the Natural History Museum in London after exploring the seafloor of the Pacific Clarion-Clipperton Zone located between Hawaii and Mexico. 

Other notable creatures from the trip include a tulip-shaped sea sponge and a coral thought to be exclusive to the Atlantic ocean. As many as 39 of the creatures collected could belong to never-before-seen species.

Read more: 'Gummy squirrel' found in deep-sea abyss looks like a stretchy half-peeled banana

link: https://www.livescience.com/deep-sea-creatures-2022