Check out this beautiful *giant* siphonophore Apolemia recorded on #NingalooCanyons expedition. It seems likely that this specimen is the largest ever recorded, and in strange UFO-like feeding posture. Thanks @Caseywdunn for info @wamuseum @GeoscienceAus @CurtinUni @Scripps_Ocean pic.twitter.com/QirkIWDu6S
— Schmidt Ocean (@SchmidtOcean) April 6, 2020
Researchers aboard the Schmidt Ocean Institute's RV Falkor used an ROV to survey the ocean floor off the western coast of Australia. They spotted this massive sinophore lying in a spiral shape.
"It seems likely that this specimen is the largest ever recorded, and in strange UFO-like feeding posture," the institute wrote. Schmidt Ocean estimated the siphonophore's outer ring at 49 feet (15 meters) in diameter.
While the siphonophore, which is related to jellyfish, looks like it's all one animal, it's actually a collection of parts.
A little math tells us that the outer ring could be as long as 150 feet, which means the entire length could make it the longest animal on earth. A single creature that evolved in that shape would be too vulnerable to survive, but since it's a colony, made up of many individual clones, it may just be a uniquely long-lived specimen. Jellyfish scientist Rebecca Helm tells us about the sinophore genus Apolemia.
...they'll send the nutrients through a long digestive tract that travels down the whole colony, so that every other clone can use the nutrients. In this way, this siphonophore may remain still and feed for a long time, and I mean LONG...
— Open Ocean Exploration (@RebeccaRHelm) April 6, 2020
Find out more about this kind of creature in her informative Twitter thread. -via Digg