Introduction
I’ve mentioned several
times before how research on the deep sea is still lacking in many areas. Each Oceania:
The Underwater City book, I try to incorporate new, rare species of the
deep. However, by book four, I am running out of deep-sea creatures native to
the Pacific Ocean to include in the newer novels that haven’t been featured before.
Thus, for Terra Sea Merge, I had only one new species: Deepstaria
enigmatica. You may remember that it was briefly mentioned and
seen in Shark Station, but it wasn’t in the wild so I did not include it
in previous sea creature features. So, now, Deepstaria enigmatica will
have one all dedicated to itself. The other sea creatures in the novel have all
had been featured in one of the previous sea creature blog posts. At the bottom
of this post, I’ll link to all the others in case you missed them or would like
to read them again. Also, I could not find any public domain photos for this
species, but my list of references (particularly #3) have great photos of one. Clickhere if you want to see a photo before reading.
Deepstaria
enigmatica
Deepstaria enigmatica is
a rarely seen jellyfish lacking tentacles. Instead, it consists solely of a net
of interconnected canals making up their digestive system and other bodily
functions. The main part of the jellyfish is its bell(1), which has
been observed to be as wide as a meter across(2). The bell is so
thin and fragile that it can easily be torn, even by something as simple as
water movement. Most of what we know about Deepstaria enigmatica comes
from a specimen collected in 1966. It was named and described by F. S. Russell
in 1967. There are only two known species in the genus Deepstaria: Deepstaria
enigmatica and Deepstaria reticulum. Neither species has tentacles, but
both possess a similar membranous umbrella(3).
Little is known about Deepstaria enigmatica; their
biology, behavior, maximum depth, reproductive biology, and full distribution
are still mysteries to science. What is known for sure about their distribution
is that they are found in the Atlantic, Indian, Pacific, and Southern Oceans(2)(3).
Predators are unknown, but shrimps and crabs have been observed feeding on the carcass
of Deepstaria enigmatica. As for feeding, researchers believe they may
use close their bell to trap their prey. During a deep-sea research dive in
2017, scientists observed the jellyfish close its bell in less than three
seconds. Once closed, a small hole remained open that they noticed didn’t
increase or decrease upon the jellyfish being disturbed. They hypothesized that
it may use this closing of the bell for locomotion in addition to feeding(3).
References
(1) https://www.nationalgeographic.com/news/2018/05/rare-jellfish-filmed-mexico-animals-spd/
(2) https://www.sciencealert.com/rare-jellyfish-deepstaria-enigmatica-caught-on-film-rov-hercules
(3) http://digitallibrary.amnh.org/handle/2246/6874
Sea Creatures Part 1— Marine Life
Sea Creatures Part 2—Intertidal Life
Sea Creatures Part 3—Deep-Sea Life
Allie's Return
Sea Creatures Part 1 – Sunlit Marine Life
Sea Creatures Part 2 – Marine Deep-Sea Life in Allie’s Return
Shark Station
Sea Creatures Part 2 – Animals of the Pelagic
Sea Creatures Part 3 – Animals of the Abyss
This concludes the sea creatures feature for Terra Sea Merge.
Unlike the other novels, this is the only one. The next blog post will be about
my research for the novel. I hope you’ve enjoyed this blog post even though it
was short. If you have any questions or comments, you can leave them directly
on my blog or email me at elizataye@gmail.com.
I love hearing from my readers!
Once again, I enjoyed reading about the animals of the deep.
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