We’re starting this year with deep sea fireworks, and a spirit of exploration! When something remarkable floats by in the middle of sampling operations, our team quickly switches gears to marvel and document.The frilled tentacles of the Halitrephes maasi jelly came into view at 1225m in the Revillagigedo Archipelago off Baja California, Mexico.
image/text credit: EVNautilus
Radial canals that move nutrients through the jelly’s bell form a starburst pattern that reflects the lights of ROV Hercules with bright splashes of yellow and pink–but without our lights this gelatinous beauty drifts unseen in the dark.
Most of the time, this beautiful creature swims through the ocean in darkness. It was the light from the Nautilus that gave the jellyfish its sparkle.Halitrephes maasi is a spectacular hydromedusan that’s found all across the world’s temperate and tropical waters.
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This video documents the first report of it from the Eastern Pacific Ocean and was filmed in the depths off Socorro in the Revillagigedo Islands, the same remote area where the Clarion Angelfish is endemic.
