Crossota millsae, a brilliant red and purple jellyfish found at a depth of 2000m in the Arctic Ocean, is also found off California and Hawaii.

New details are emerging about the life-forms that survive in one of the world's most inaccessible places.Scientists have published descriptions of a range of jelly-like animals that inhabit the deep oceans of the Arctic.The animals were originally filmed and photographed during a series of submersible dives in 2005.

One of the biggest surprises is that one of the most common animals in the Arctic deep sea is a type of jellyfish that is completely new to science.The deep Arctic ocean is isolated from much of the water elsewhere on the globe. One area, known as the Canadian Basin, is particularly cut off by deep-sea ridges. These huge barriers can isolate any species there from other deep-water animals.

So in 2005, an international team of scientists, funded primarily by the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Office of Ocean Exploration and Research, conducted a series of deep-sea dives using a remote operated vehicle (ROV).

Details of what they found have now been published in the journal Deep Sea Research Part II.

Other findings:


The small blue jelly, a type of Narcomedusae, is new to science.


The large bright orange Aulacoctena species may get its colour from worms that it eats

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Image credit: Kevin Raskoff
News source: BBC News