Imagine walking through the sea … and an extraordinary creature crosses your path. The Ningaloo Canyon Expedition happened. It is a team of international researchers from institutes such as the Museum of Western Australia, the Schmidt Ocean Institute and the Scripps Institution of Oceanography. They searched for unlisted animals off the Australian coast in the Indian Ocean. The surprise came during one of his forays. They saw a kind of filament several tens of meters long and a very strange concentric shape. It wasn't actually a new species. It was a siphonophore, an animal created by thousands (in this case billions) of organisms. You, in turn, the huge and strange being that this expedition found at sea.
A strange giant
The team explored a poorly studied part of the ocean off the coast of Western Australia. They used the submarine ROV – a robot – and sonar. The creature was found on the way back to the mainland.
"Everyone was impressed when it came out," ScienceAlert says. Biologists Nerida Wilson and Lisa Kirkendale from the Western Australian Museum mention it. "There were a lot of emotions. Everywhere on the boat people entered the control room. Siphonophors are often seen. But it was much bigger and looked unusual, ”they continue. Although estimates have been made, they have not yet been officially measured. However, researchers believe that "it seems to be longer than any other animal on the planet". The outer ring is said to be about 47 meters long!
This whole being is made up of smaller individuals called zooids. They have the ability to clone thousands of times and become the organs that the entire animal needs. That is, like our body's cells, when they specialize, zoos become sharp tentacles to collect food. They even attract red baits. Others are made for reproduction and others so that the "super animal" can move.
Teamwork
It is a huge colony found by the underwater expedition team. Billions of these organs and individuals should work together. Their common goal is to search the deep sea and find food. They share the goal among all by a tribe with which they are connected. As a kind of vertical branch that also serves as a path for nerve signals and explains the properties of the giant and strange being in the sea.
A true army of solidarity. And an example of how we live it out of the water.
