Buzz
Since its debut in 2008, the Ocean Exploration Trust's Nautilus research vessel has streamed live images of a purple orb, a clear squid, and a stubby octopus from the deep sea. The latest strange marine discovery caught by the vessel is a rare gulper eel that behaves like a hybrid of a python and a pufferfish.
As Thrillist shares, this footage was captured by a Nautilus rover exploring the Pacific Ocean's Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument, 4700 feet below the surface. In the clip, a limbless, slinky, black creature, resembling one that has consumed a beach ball, floats just above the ocean floor. After a brief moment, the eel deflates its throat, drifts around, and opens its jaw wide to expose a massive mouth.
The scientists on board react just as amusingly as the eel’s display. At first, they are puzzled by the sight ("It looks like a Muppet," one of them comments), and after marveling at its shape-shifting abilities, they identify it as a gulper eel. Named for its extraordinary jaw span, gulper eels can consume prey much larger than themselves and inflate to intimidate attackers. Preferring to stay at least 1500 feet below the ocean's surface, they are rarely observed.
You can view the swollen eel and listen to the researchers' reactions to it in the video below.
