November 3, 2020: Jellyfish
Image courtesy of the NOAA Office of Ocean Exploration and Research, Deep-Sea Symphony: Exploring the Musicians Seamounts. Download larger version (jpg, 1.4 MB).
Four times after a dive to the seafloor during the Deep-Sea Symphony: Exploring the Musicians Seamounts expedition, scientists explored the midwater before recovering the remotely operated vehicles for a restful night aboard NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer. On two days, they engaged in a marathon of exploration with full-day midwater dives. The water column is the largest, and least explored, habitat on Earth and very little is known about what lives in the midwater in this part of the ocean, making this water column exploration even more important and special.
This species of Solmissus, or dinner plate jelly, was seen during the last set of midwater transects of the expedition. In the image, 26 tentacles are seen extending outward from the jelly’s bell. Solmissus is known to capture and eat other jellies.
From: Explorations Far Above the Musician Seamounts: A Crescendo for Midwater Explorers.