"Blue slime" at the bottom of the ocean puzzles researchers
The deep sea is perhaps the least explored corner of the planet, where scientists continue to discover new curiosities. One of them puzzled researchers just a few weeks ago.
According to Live Science, researchers have discovered strange mucus-like formations in the shape of a drop at the bottom of the Caribbean Sea. They were first spotted on 30 August while exploring the seabed near Santa Cruz Island (US Virgin Islands) using a remotely operated vehicle (ROV). The blue mucus droplets were found at a depth of 407 to 611 metres.
The mysterious creatures were found by members of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) expedition, which has been studying the North Atlantic for the past four months. During the work, the scientists were broadcasting live, which could be watched by deep-sea diving enthusiasts from all over the world.
It was in one such stream that unusual dark blue creatures appeared in the frame. Some researchers suggested that it could be a soft coral or sponge, or even a shell - a shaking marine invertebrate, sometimes called an ascidian. Some scientists have jokingly suggested the names "gelatinous blue stuff", "blue biomat" and "blue slime".
Despite the fact that the scientists did not come to a unanimous opinion about what they found, they decided what the discovery could not be. "I can tell you that it's not a rock, but that's all I can do," one researcher joked.
The creature has now been photographed and several videos have been taken to begin the process of identifying it. First, the footage will be shown to coral and sponge experts. But even for them, this task will not be easy, because there are about 2000 species of soft corals, almost 8500 species of sponges and about 3000 species of shells in the world. If the experts fail to identify the creature, the scientists will try to get a sample of it from the seabed for closer study.
As OBOZREVATEL wrote, the mysterious creatures, which were thrown on the beach in Australia, frightened tourists with a "dance of death", which they performed.
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