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Rare deep sea creature caught on camera (video)

Rare sea creature siphonophore caught on camera ini Gulf of Mexico
Rare sea creature siphonophore caught on camera ini Gulf of Mexico



Marine experts have caught incredible footage of one of the world's rarest deep sea creatures on camera.

The purple siphonophore was spotted during a deep sea expedition in the Gulf of Mexico in June. It looks like a jellyfish (it's a relative) but is in fact a colony of organisms connected together. The tiny organisms, or zooids, each have a function to ensure the siphonophore moves, eats and breathes.



According to the Mirror, marine biologist Rebecca Helm, part of the Nautilus Live team who discovered the 'creature' wrote in Deep Sea News: "To me, the best part of science is stuff like this: seeing something that completely takes my breath away.

"I've seen red siphonophores like this, a couple orange, but never ever this strange purple-blue.

"Even after studying animals like this for the last five years, this video has me in awe. The animal captured in this footage, simply put, is stunning."

The video was uploaded to the Team Nautilus YouTube channel and has been viewed over three million times. The captionread: "E/V Nautilus, the current ship of exploration of Titanic discoverer Dr Robert Ballard, is exploring the ocean studying biology, geology, archeology, and more.

"This beautiful colonial organism drifted past Hercules' cameras, and we followed it for as long as we could keep track. They are made up of many smaller animals called zooids, and can be found floating around the pelagic zone in ocean basins around the world. One famous siphonophore species is the deadly Portugese Man O' War."

According to the Independent, there are more than 175 different species of siphonophore, with the Praya Dubia being the longest animal in the world, measuring between 30 and 50 metres - twice the size of a blue whale.



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