Strange sea creature was spotted off the coast of Australia.
It’s a long «something» — siphonophora, which seems to be one animal, but actually represents many thousands of small organisms.
They are called zooide, and every organism in the colony performs a variety of functions: food production, reproduction or protection of the colony against predators.
Scientists have known about them for many years, but new footage provided by the ocean Institute Schmidt (Schmidt Ocean Institute) from the expedition off the coast of Western Australia, show the scale of siphonophora. According to scientists, the length of the body is a whopping 47 metres (154 ft)!
Check out this beautiful *giant* siphonophore Apolemia recorded on #NingalooCanyons expedition. It seems likely that this specimen is the largest ever recorded, and in the strange UFO-like feeding posture. Thanks @Caseywdunn for info @wamuseum @GeoscienceAus @CurtinUni @Scripps_Ocean pic.twitter.com/QirkIWDu6S
— Schmidt Ocean (@SchmidtOcean) April 6, 2020
The researchers used remote-sensing technologies for analysis of marine life and raised the device to the surface when I noticed a majestic creature.
«Everyone was amazed when this appeared. We couldn’t believe their eyes. We met siphonophora, but not of this size. It can be longer than any animal on the planet,» said Nerida Wilson and Lisa Kirkendale of the Western Australian Museum.
Explaining more about siphonophora, Stefan Siebert from brown University, told Wired that they can be compared with bodies.
«In a sense, they function as authorities. Some move the colony some feed for the colony, some care about reproduction. At that time, as some beings for millennia have developed different parts of his body, siphonophora turned into a body, into the organs,» — said the scientist.
Siphonophore there is one long axon, which probably distributes the signals from one end of the colony to another. But how do they coordinate all this, scientists actually don’t quite understand until now.
