Their hearts sank when they discovered this under the ice in Antarctica. The predator's arms reached 10 meters

During the exploration of this pristine area, an extremely rare and mysterious creature was recorded – a giant spleenwort of the species Stygiomedusa gigantea. The animal, often called the "giant phantom jelly" , grows to an impressive size – its bell diameter reaches over a metre, and its arms can be up to 10 metres long. Although the creature is commonly called a jellyfish, this term describes only one of the developmental stages of the spleenwort.

Unusual Deep Sea Predator Discovered in Glacier

Stygiomedusa gigantea is an extremely rare inhabitant of the deep, whose natural habitat is the oceans at depths exceeding 6,000 m . It owes its nickname "giant phantom jelly" to its semi-transparency and ability to "disappear" in dark waters. Scientists speculate that the spleenfish can even take on a red color when exposed to light, which further emphasizes its unusualness.

The discovery was made during the submersible SuBastian mission, which descended to a depth of 1,300 m to explore the newly exposed marine environment. The area proved to be rich in life, with the crew finding numerous sea anemones, sponges, cephalopods and crustaceans. However, it was the appearance of the mysterious scull that attracted the most attention from researchers.

So far, Stygiomedusa gigantea has only been observed in Antarctic waters and at depths of up to 280 m, although its actual range may be much wider. Despite its impressive size, it is not the largest known member of the splenic group—the record belongs to the lion's mane jellyfish from the North Atlantic, whose stinging wings can reach up to 30 m in length.

New data collected during this expedition could significantly expand our knowledge of the mysterious life of deep-sea cnidarians, whose existence still remains largely unknown.

Ghostly critters from the deep sea: Stygiomedusa gigantea

Source: zielona.interia.pl