A huge one giant phantom jellyfish (Stygiomedusa gigantea) was recently spotted by a ROV (Remote Operated Vehicle) in the deep waters of the Pacific Ocean. The scientists of the Schmidt Ocean Institute at the head of the expedition they spotted the large specimen of this rare species while they were off the coast of Argentina to scan the walls of the Colorado-Rawson submarine canyon. The meeting, one of about 120 in the last century, took place in 250 meters of depth. These red-colored, large-umbrella jellyfish are estimated to reach 10 meters in length with their long tentacles swaying elegantly in the water.
There Stygiomedusa gigantea it is part of the Ulmaridae family together with species such as the four-leaf clover jellyfish (Aurelia aurita) and lives, as reported by the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI), in all the world’s oceans except the Arctic.
It is a species that can reach i 10 meters long thanks to the very long ones 4 oral arms – expansions around the mouth in communication with the gastrovascular cavity – which serve to capture prey such as plankton or small fish and bring them towards the mouth. Inhabitants of the ocean depths up to 7000 meters deep, these jellyfish do not have stinging or poisonous tentacles like the most common and feared jellyfish on beaches in the summer. The giant ghost jellyfish float in the so-called midnight zone characterized by a rounded domed umbrella (the “head”) more than a meter wide and with a color tending towards crimson red as shown by the videos.
The rare species was officially discovered in 1899but MBARI, one of the most advanced marine research centers in the world which has carried out thousands of dives with its underwater robots, was only able to see it 9 times. During these encounters the jellyfish was observed in the company of a small fishThe Thalassobathia pelagicawhich sought shelter from predators by swimming between its gigantic arms or inside the dome.
