Camouflaged sea creature — with 8 arms — discovered as new species in India. See it
In the deep-sea, species of jellyfish use the ocean’s currents to move their seemingly weightless bodies up and down the water column.
They can reach staggering sizes — the largest lion’s mane jellyfish ever recorded was 120 feet across — and they often have too many tentacles to count.
Along the intertidal coast of India, the jellyfish have a more “peculiar life cycle,” researchers said in a study published Sept. 12 in the peer-reviewed journal Zootaxa.
Scientists were scanning the pools revealed along the shoreline during low tide for a biodiversity study when they noticed what could have been mistaken as some ocean goo clinging to the rocks and algae, according to the study.
Wanting a closer look, researchers scooped up the squishy material and put it into a dish filled with seawater.
Inside, the gelatinous spot took the shape of a tiny jellyfish, its top (or peduncle) just one-tenth of an inch long, researchers said.
The creature was identified as a new species of stalked jellyfish, an animal that uses the peduncle and the suction pad on its end to attach to rocks and algae, according to the study.
“Although they can be locally abundant, these animals are rarely observed, probably because of their seasonality and typically cryptic coloration to match their surroundings,” researchers said.
The jellyfish itself is made of two parts: the peduncle, or stalk, and the calyx, or web of arms and tentacles.
The new species has eight arms, each covered in white dots and with “pad-like adhesive structures on” the tips, according to the study.
The calyx is about one-third of an inch long, bringing the total size of the jellyfish to just under half of an inch, researchers said.
The jellyfish was named Calvadosia festivala to honor the “several colorful festivals celebrated in Indian culture throughout the year,” researchers said.
Their bodies have a trumpet shape to suit their time spent as attachments instead of floating through the ocean like their larger jellyfish cousins, according to the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History.
The new species is the first scientific record of a stalked jellyfish in India, researchers said, and only the fourth species ever found in tropical waters.
The jellyfish were collected off the coast of Dwarka along the northwestern coast of India.
The research team includes Hitisha Ishawarbhai Baroliya, Rahul Kundu and Lucília Souza Miranda.
This story was originally published September 17, 2024 at 9:36 AM with the headline "Camouflaged sea creature — with 8 arms — discovered as new species in India. See it."
