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Category: Animal of the Deep

Fingered goblet sponge

Massive fingered goblet sponges grow together in dense gardens that offer safety and shelter for an assortment of other animals.

Mystery mollusc

animal Type Maximum Size 14.5 cm (5.5 inches) Depth 1,000–4,000 m (3,300–13,100 feet) Habitat Midwater Midnight (bathypelagic) zone Diet Crustaceans Including mysid shrimp Range Northeastern Pacific Ocean Oregon to Southern California, but possibly more widespread About Our first sighting of this unique sea slug stumped our scientists. In early 2000, we encountered a curious critter …

Dinner plate jelly

The dinner plate jelly is one of the ocean’s top predators, with an appetite for other gelatinous animals.

Giant cusk-eel

The giant cusk-eel has a keen sense of smell to find food on the sprawling deep seafloor.

Gossamer worm

Instead of crawling along the seafloor, the gossamer worm swims gracefully through the midwater.

Octopus squid

With eight arms instead of 10, the octopus squid breaks the rules, but eight arms are not the only thing that stands out about this species.

Warty deep-sea octopus

A mother warty deep-sea octopus protects her eggs for record time to better the odds that her hatchlings survive.

Deep-sea skate

Deep-sea skates favor particular habitats or “neighborhoods” on the deep seafloor.

Spiny star

The spiny star has a particular appetite for deep-sea corals, using tiny tube feet to scale towering corals and find a delicious dinner.

Pearl octopus

Large numbers of pearl octopus gather at deep-sea thermal springs to mate and nest.