The longest creature to have ever lived has been discovered in ocean depths off the coast of Western Australia.
Underwater explorers found the 150 foot (46 meter) long “UFO-like” creature, known as a siphonophore, in the deep sea canyons near the Ningaloo reef.
Researchers used ROV SuBastian, an underwater robot, to complete 20 dives at depths of 14,764 feet (4.5 km) over a period of 181 hours.
Scientists spotted the swirling siphonophore – a floating stringy creature made up of tiny zooids – deep in the Indian Ocean.
The creature is said to be well over the length of blue whales, which themselves can reach up to 100 feet (30 metres) in length.
The Schmidt Ocean Institute tweeted a video of the creature describing it as “beautiful” and “UFO-like”.
But the discovery of the giant gelatinous string wasn’t the only unique find. Experts also discovering 30 new underwater species of some of the deepest fish and marine invertebrates ever documented in the region.
They found large communities of glass sponges in Cape Range Canyon and collected the first giant hydroids – enormously long feathery colonies – in Australia.
Read more: yahoo
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