Better and New Video of the Enigmatic Placental Jellyfish

ORIGINAL: blouv1210 DeepSeaNews

BY DR. M, 

One Very Rare Sea Monster/Creature

Video shot by underwater drillers of a jellyfish near their well at 5000+ feet. Some people who viewed the video were puzzled by the floating creature, with suggestions that it may be a deep sea monster or a more mundane plastic bag. Speculation was also rife that it may have been whale placenta or even the mythical creature Cthulhu. Experts have however confirmed that it is in fact a Deepstaria enigmatica, a jellyfish from the Ulmaridae family first discovered in 1967 by F.S. Russel. The invertebrae is usually found in the South Atlantic ocean. 

Original upload by: blouv1210 full video link of 8 minutes in video.

The Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI) has just posted better footage of Deepstaria,

The scyphomedusa Deepstaria

The scyphomedusa Deepstaria is certainly odd, with its bag-like appearance, and bell that can open more than a meter wide. Speculation on the identity of a mystery blob of has become a YouTube sensation, sparking heated and entertaining debates over its identity. That video of Deepstaria reticulum (described by Larson, et al., in 1988) looks especially unusual because the medusa is being blown around by the thrusters of the Remotely Operated Vehicle, and eventually turns completely inside-out. In this video, we showed some more natural-looking specimens of Deepstaria reticulum and Deepstaria enigmatica, along with other related species from the deep sea

The video is STUNNING. An expert on everything pelagic, Steve Haddock narrates the video and provides tons of great and interesting information. Thanks goes to MBARI and Steve for providing more footage and explanation of this gorgeous creature.