Plunge 1,000 meters (3,300 feet) below the ocean’s surface, and there can be found the midnight zone, where the complete lack of sunlight and extreme cold and pressure have led to the evolution of all manner of ethereal weirdos. One of the rarest members of the gang? The giant phantom jellyfish (Stygiomedusa gigantea).
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“Giant” is an appropriate descriptor for this deep-sea dweller. It’s not the biggest jellyfish in the ocean – that title likely goes to the whopper that is the lion’s mane jelly – but its bell (the main part of a jelly’s body) can be over a meter (3.3 feet) wide.
Its four oral arms are also impressive, reaching more than 10 meters (33 feet) long. Yep, you read that right – oral arms. Giant phantom jellyfish have these rather than the stinging tentacles we might typically associate with jellyfish, and they use them to grab onto their prey and guide it towards their mouths (new fear unlocked).
These ribbon-like appendages were out on form in a recent video captured by ROV pilots with the Schmidt Ocean Institute, who spotted the giant jelly during an exploration of the Colorado-Rawson submarine canyon, a deep seep off the coast of Argentina.
It’s here where you can really see where the “phantom” part of its name comes from; the jelly really does look pretty ghostly as its translucent reddish-orange body gently pushes and swirls its way through the water.
As well as being pretty mesmerizing to watch, it turns out that this is also a rare spot. Since the giant phantom jellyfish was first discovered in 1899, it’s only been spotted around 100 times. That’s not entirely surprising; while it can be seen closer to the ocean surface (the one spotted by Schmidt Ocean was recorded 253 meters [830 feet] down, for example), it’s usually found in the midnight zone, and can even live as far down as 6,700 meters (21,980 feet). It’s only relatively recently that we’ve had the technology to get down that far.
The infrequency with which it’s seen also means that scientists don’t know that much about the giant phantom jelly. In fact, scientists didn’t even recognize it as a species until 60 years after it was discovered.
What we do know, however, is that there are records of it in all oceans except the Arctic, with the greatest number of records coming from the Southern Ocean; researchers captured footage of the giant jelly there, off the coast of the Antarctic Peninsula, back in 2022.
As for everything else about this ocean giant? That remains a mystery, at least for now.
Source Link: Watch Rare Footage Of The Giant Phantom Jellyfish, A 10-Meter-Long "Ghost" That's Only Been Seen Around 100 Times
