A diver has captured footage of an unusual-looking jellyfish off the coast of Papua New Guinea, sparking curiosity amongst researchers.
The video was captured by Dorian Borcherds, who owns Scuba Ventures in Kavieng, within the New Eire province of PNG.
Borcherds, who has been diving within the space for greater than 20 years, stated he noticed about three or 4 of the jellyfish and was struck by their intricate element and the best way they appeared to maneuver decisively by means of the water.
“They don’t have brains, so I don’t know the way they try this,” he stated.
On the lookout for solutions, he despatched the footage to his spouse in South Africa, who uploaded it to the Jellyfish app, a projectDr Lisa-ann Gershwin, a jellyfish knowledgeable at Australian Marine Stinger Advisory Providers, co-founded.
In her phrases, the app’s goal is to “reply the age-old query: what's that blob and will I pee on [its sting]?”
“As quickly as I noticed this one, actually, I might barely comprise my pleasure,” she stated. “I nearly fell out of my chair.”
Gershwin initially thought the footage was the second sighting of a mysterious jellyfish – Chirodectes maculatus – discovered many years in the past on the Nice Barrier Reef, however she now believes the “magnificent” creature is a brand new species.
Whereas Gershwin is assured in her findings, her paper on the species classification is but to bear peer assessment.
Prof Kylie Pitt, a marine ecologist who specialises in jellyfish from Griffith College, stated it might be a brand new species, however doesn’t assume it will be potential to know for certain based mostly solely on a video.
She stated she had actually by no means seen it earlier than, however stated a researcher would “want to carry the animal in your hand” to make sure of its species.
“It could be nice if we bought the specimen and will describe its morphology, coupled with genetic testing,” she stated.
Prof Jamie Seymour, a toxicologist from James Prepare dinner College who specialises in Australia’s venomous animals, says he prefers Gershwin’s earlier concept, believing the jellyfish is a Chirodectes maculatus.
Gershwin had helped reclassify Chirodectes maculatus – a jellyfish that has been sighted solely as soon as off the coast of far north Queensland, after a cyclone in 1997.
She stated it had remained a thriller the place the invertebrate had come from ever since. At first look, she thought the brand new video might present the reply. She enlisted the assistance ofPeter Davie, a now retired – however nonetheless lively – curator from the Queensland museum, the place the unique jellyfish specimen was stored.
The pair pored over the footage from PNG body by body, and seen the jellyfish had totally different markings, it was a lot bigger – in regards to the dimension of a soccer ball in contrast with one thing that would slot in your hand – and numerous different technical variations.
To their delight, they determined this was in all probability a brand new species of jellyfish, in all probability belonging to the identical genus because the one seen in 1997.
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