Never-before-seen creature discovered at the deepest bottom of the Indian Ocean

Tunicates are transparent, jellyfish-like creatures.

According to CNN, American explorer and millionaire Victor Vescovo made a new discovery during a deep dive into the Java Trench (7,725 meters), the deepest point in the Indian Ocean.

The expedition was one of five deep-sea expeditions documented by the Discovery Channel. At the bottom of the Java Trench, Vescovo and his team saw a jellyfish that may have been a previously unknown species.

They filmed the creature and described it as “absolutely extraordinary” and “unlike anything seen before”.

“It's amazing to have such a deep-sea jellyfish at the bottom,” Alan Jamieson, the lead scientist on the expedition, told CNN.

Tunicate is an animal related to sea squirt.

“The group tried to take pictures and record as much as possible of what they had just seen.”

Back at his hotel in Bali, Jamieson scoured the internet for clues. He met with a team of Japanese scientists and asked them about what he had found.

“We came to the conclusion that this creature resembled a tunicate,” Jamieson said.

“Tunicate” is a creature that looks like a ghostly plant created by a planetary collision in a science fiction movie. In fact, it is not a plant but a carnivorous animal related to sea squirts with a very unique way of hunting.

They bury their entire body deep in the ground, waiting for prey to pass by, then open their mouths to swallow their prey. With countless poisonous filaments in their mouths, they paralyze their prey and turn it into food.

Jamieson says the creature has adapted to its habitat in the Java Trench.

“These creatures knew they were at risk of being submerged by geological activity, so they developed long tentacles to lift themselves off the sea floor and drift with the currents,” said Jamieson.