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Name : Giant phantasma jelly ( Stygiomedusa gigantea )
Where it lives : Every sea except the Arctic Ocean
A giant phantom jellyfish (Stygiomedusa gigantea) encountered off the Antarctic Peninsula during a Viking cruise.
What it eats : Plankton and belittled fish
Why it ’s amazing : Earth ’s oceans are home to many close and unusual animate being that humans seldom see — including elephantine phantom jellies . These subtle mystifying - sea creatures have a 3.3 - foundation - wide ( 1 meter ) bell and four ribbon - same arms that grow up to 33 metrical foot ( 10 m ) long , have them among the large invertebrate predators in the sea .
The first giant specter jelly specimen was gather in 1899 and described in 1910 . The specie has only been spotted around120 timessince . This is because these gelatin generally live in recondite waters , down as far as 22,000 feet ( 6,700 m ) below the surface .
They have squeezable , squashable bodies , which help them to outlast the fabulously high pressures they go through at these profoundness .
In 2022 , investigator observedgiant phantom jellieson three separate occasion during submergible expeditions in Antarctica , with video recording and images showing the creatures swimming at relatively shallow depth of between 260 and 920 pes ( 80 to 280 m).In a survey reporting the sighting , researchers said it ’s potential the jelly live nigher to the surface in high southerly latitudes because seasonal variations in sunlight may drive fair game nearer to the Earth’s surface .
Unlike otherjellyfish , giant phantom jellies do n’t have sting tentacle to fascinate quarry . Instead , they enclose their arms around their food — normally plankton or small fish — and hoist them into their mouths .
link up : Newly describe jellyfish is a 24 - eyed creep related to the cosmos ’s most venomous marine creature
gargantuan phantom jellies also disagree from other jellyfish bybeing viviparous , entail they give giving birth to populate young . The young develop inside the mother before come off from inside the cowl and swimming out of their mother ’s mouth .
— Otherworldly video recording captures rare jellyfish with a hitchhiker in its Melville Bell
— 32 truly outlandish deep - sea puppet
— Tiny , extremely venomous jellyfish stings 2 masses in the middle of the sea — forcing them to be airlift to hospital
When there is visible luminance , giant phantom jellies emit a slight orange - red Light Within via bioluminescence — think they bring forth light through lifelike chemical reaction . It ’s not cognise exactly why they glow , butresearchersbelieve it could be to communicate , confuse predators , lure prey or draw potential mates . However , because these jellies live in the rich ocean — where red light can not penetrate very far — their glow is very faint , which likely helps to keep them hidden .
These jellyfish are solo explorers , but they also appear to aid to protect smaller sea tool . During an dispatch in the Gulf of California , researchers from theMonterey Bay Aquarium Research Institutespotted small fish , pelagic brotula ( Thalassobathia pelagica ) shelter underneath a giant phantom jelly . In return , the Pisces aid the jelly by remove leech .
