The First Video of an Extremely Rare Jellyfish Captures Its Striped Tentacles and Spotted, Pulsing Body
There have been solely two documented sightings of the elusive Chirodectes maculatus, a big, soccer ball-sized jellyfish with distinct noticed markings, the second of which was captured late final yr by divers from Scuba Kavieng. In what’s believed to be the primary recording, the video exhibits the extraordinarily uncommon animal, which has 4 clusters of striped tentacles, rings masking its physique, and a pulsing patch of purple on its bell that’s probably a digestive cavity, because it swims close to the coast of Papua New Guinea.
Researchers first encountered the specimen in 1997, though they didn’t formally designate it as a novel genus till 2005. In keeping with Vice, most jellyfish of this sort are recognizable for his or her boxy our bodies and venom, though the Chirodectes maculatus appears to be missing that toxic attribute.
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