What Is That? Underwater Drilling Camera Catches Giant Sea Creature « CBS Tampa This just goes to show that we know absolutely jack s**t about what is in our oceans.
Funny, I didn't see any scales or appendages. I saw something that looks like a brain stem, but otherwise, it looks like an old giant plastic bag floating in the water. But if it were truly something amazing, I would not be surprised at all. There's a lot of wildlife out there we haven't come across. Edit: Ok I read the article. So it's some sort of jellyfish. Boooo. Haha.
Jellyfish can sting. I'd hate to get wrapped up in that thing if it uses nematocysts to obtain food. Yikes! Deepstaria enigmatica http://species-identification.org/species.php?species_group=zsao&id=2434
Actually, we know a lot about what's in our oceans. But we also have a lot to learn about what sorts of creatures are down there. There's a lot of space, and the immense pressure makes it hard to get there. The study of the deep oceans is a relatively new field, due to the sophisticated technology needed and the cost of the research, so it's not surprising that we're still finding new stuff.
I think this Jellyfish's name is pretty entertaining: Deepstaria enigmatica (first coined in 1967). Another write up with other links: http://deepseanews.com/2012/05/solving-the-mystery-of-the-placental-jellyfish/
Indeed. The deepest scuba dive was 1,080 feet. Below about 100 feet, nitrogen narcosis becomes an issue: nitrogen under high pressure is a drug that has been compared to alcohol. This can be alleviated by substituting helium for some or all of the nitrogen. Below a couple of hundred feet, air becomes toxic and you have to reduce the amount of oxygen. Since nitrogen at such pressure would make you so drunk you couldn't function, you need to use even more helium. Deep divers use a helium-oxygen mixture (heliox) or a nitrogen-helium-oxygen mixture (tri-mix). Tri-mix is cheaper because helium is expensive, so is favored by technical sport divers. But down around 1,000 feet, helium becomes toxic. It affects the nerve cells. So below that you must be inside something that protects you from the pressure. E.g. a diving bell. Interestingly, last time I checked, the no-limits freediving record was something like 702 feet. That's using a weighted sled to descend and a float to ascend. With only one lungful of air, those toxicity issues do not arise, and the limiting factor is the diver's ability to equalize her/his ears. Swimming unassisted without fins, the record freedive is 380 feet, set by William Trubridge. I took the beginning freediving class from him. I went to 42 feet (with fins) in that class, and later, in an advanced class with different instructors, I went to 90 feet. Anybody that wants to can take freediving lessons from the constant-weight no-fins world freediving champion. He's a cool guy. Nobody can go to 5,000 feet without a diving bell. Even a conventional submarine cannot go that deep.
