Scientists have discovered an “unusual” new species of deep-sea jellyfish living in the waters off theThe creature, a type of Atolla jellyfish, was discovered by scientists at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute . It lives in the so-called midnight zone of the ocean – between one and four kilometers deep – a mysterious region where light only comes from animals that produce it themselves and the pressure reaches 5,580 pounds a square inch.
“We realized that we had found an unusual jelly around 2014 and went back through our records to find a few additional observations,” says George Matsumoto, MBARI senior education and research specialist. “We also kept an eye out for additional sightings so that we could obtain specimens to examine and deposit at the California Academy of Sciences.”Photograph: © 2014 MBARI
It’s also not as common as other types of Atolla – researchers have only observed 10 specimens between April 2006 and June 2021. The species is only known from Monterey Bay and lives at depths of 1,013 to 3,189 meters.