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Name : Skeleton cat bear ocean squirt(Clavelina ossipandae )
Where it lives : Off the seacoast of Kumejima , Japan
Scientists discovered skeleton panda sea squirts after seeing photos of them posted online by scuba divers.
What it eats : Plankton and other small constitutive materials
Why it ’s awesome : Resembling a baby panda in a Halloween costume , this adorable species of ascidians , or sea squirts , was first described by scientist in 2024 .
" The ashen parts that look like bones are the blood vessels that run horizontally through the ocean squirts ' branchia . The dark parts on the head that look like a giant panda ’s centre and olfactory organ are just a shape , and we do n’t really get it on why the pattern is there,“Naohiro Hasegawa , a researcher at Hokkaido University and Centennial State - author of the study that first described the species in the journalSpecies Diversity , toldReuters .
relate : Barreleye fish — the deep - ocean weirdy with rotating eyes and a see - through head
Photos of these unusual animal first appeared online in around2017 . investigator saw photo station by a diving centre of attention and realized they might be something scientists had never seen before . The researchers then analyze specimens collected by underwater diver and confirmed it was a never - before - described species .
The researchers who described the strange animals call in them " gaikotsu - panda - hoya , " which translate to " skeleton panda ascidian " because of the distinctive scoring that make them look like a bony body with a panda ’s nerve and wide - open lip .
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The scientific name of this odd species also refers to its coming into court : in Latin , Clavelinameans " little bottleful " whileossipandaecomes from " os " meaning bones , and panda .
Other sea spurt bear standardized markings : C. moluccensis — also live as the bluebell sea small fry — has skeletal stripes and dark blue superman on its pallid gentle soundbox whilec . picta — the painted sea jet — has like smear and costa - like stripes .
Like other ocean squirts , skeleton red panda are filter - fertilize marine invertebrates that attach themselves to the substratum and pump piddle through their siphons to dribble nutrients from the water . They turn less than an column inch foresightful ( 20 mm ) and are found in shallow water of up to 66 human foot ( 20 measure ) .
