Resembling an alien shopping bag with guts made by glowing Cheetos, the strange creature took center stage in new shots taken by a remote-controlled vehicle deep in the Pacific.
Gliding across the sea at a depth of about 7,221 feet (2,201 meters), the ocean freak – in fact an unknown species of sea cucumber – had its entrails on display in a new video shot in March by ROV exploring part of the Pacific Remote Southeast Islands National Monument from Honolulu. The ROV was gliding over an unexplored underwater mountain on Kingman Reef and Palmyra Atoll when operators spotted the creature, said Megan Cook, director of education and contacts at The Ocean Exploration Trust’s Nautilus live.
“They’re always so exciting and spectacular to watch because it’s just such an amazing animal,” Cook told Live Science.
Sea cucumbers or holoturi are a diverse group, with many species distributed in the central Pacific, Cook said. The one spotted by the ROV, associated with the crew of the research ship E / V Nautilus, belongs to a family called Elpidiidae, she said. These deep-sea cucumbers are scavengers that feed on sea snow, rain from skin cells, feces and pieces of dead animals that filter to the bottom of the ocean.
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Many species of the family Elpidiidae have appendages that resemble fins or sails that allow them to swim short distances. This is a useful adaptation that allows sea cucumbers to cover more land and look for new places to graze, Cook said.
To feed, the animal runs on the seabed, using its sticky tentacles – red fringes in the shape of leaves or stars around its mouth – to take a mixture of sand and organic material, which it then brings to its mouth. The bright orange gut – the glowing “Cheetos” – seen inside the transparent creature, then absorbs the organic material, releasing inedible sand.
This is proving to be an important storage system for carbon. The ocean floor is the largest carbon capture system The Earthwith carbon-rich organic material that is scooped up by bottom dwellers like sea cucumbers and stays deep in the ocean for long periods of time.
“They’re this great seabed cleaner / recycler,” Cook said of deep-sea sea cucumbers.
Some sea cucumbers can expel their digestive system through their anuses when startled, a method that often allows them to escape hungry predators. (The organs will soon grow back.) However, it is not known whether the species in the new video has this trick up its sleeve (or anus), Cook said.
EV Nautilus broadcasts its ROV dives live, and the current season lasts until the end of October. The team will continue to explore the central Pacific, including many unexplored sites in the maritime national monument of the Pacific remote islands and its surroundings. Viewers can follow on Twitter @EVNautiluson Instagram at @NautilusLivein TikTok @NautilusLiveon Facebook @NautilusLive or on YouTube at / EVNautilus.
“Our next ROV dive will be to Johnston Atoll, one of the most remote atolls on the planet,” Cook said.
Originally published in Live Science.
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