大象传媒

Check out this amazing glowing sea slug

Bathydevius caudactylus swims with a fingered tail and uses a cavernous hood to capture foodImage source, MBARI
Image caption,

This glowing sea creature has been confusing scientists for years

The deep ocean is home to some pretty strange creatures.

And now a new one has been identified.

A remarkable species of sea slug that lives in the deep sea.

The sea slug has a large 'hood' and a 'paddle-like tail' - not to mention it glows!

Image source, MBARI
Image caption,

Using specialist equipment researchers were able to capture the creature glowing

Researchers from Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute have discovered the creature is a Bathydevius caudactylus - a type of sea slug.

The mysterious creature was first seen during a dive in February 2000.

For more than 20 years researchers have been scratching their heads over what the mysterious creature could be.

Image source, MBARI
Image caption,

The mystery mollusc (Bathydevius caudactylus) lives in the midnight zone

The glowing sea slug was found in the ocean's midnight zone - that's the part of the ocean permanently blanketed in complete darkness.

To work out what the mysterious sea creature was, scientists captured 150 different sightings of it using a remote-operated ocean submarine.

鈥淥ur discovery is a new piece of the puzzle that can help better understand the largest habitat on Earth,鈥 said Dr Bruce Robison, senior scientist at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI), who led the research.

鈥淲e were able to prepare the most comprehensive description of a deep-sea animal ever made.鈥