‘Mystery mollusk’ found in the ocean’s midnight zone is unlike anything researchers have seen before

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Researchers have discovered an unlikely new species within the ocean’s midnight zone: a glowing “mystery mollusk.”

Although the apple-size species, named Bathydevius caudactylus, is classified as a sea slug, the marine animal is unlike any sea slug Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute scientists have seen before.

Bathydevius is a swimming sea slug that glows with bioluminescence and has a body with a paddle-like tail and a large gelatinous hood, and it’s the first sea slug found to live in the deep ocean. Typically, sea slugs live on the seafloor or in coastal environments like tide pools, while only a few are known to live in open water near the surface.

 

https://www.cnn.com/2024/11/12/science/mystery-mollusk-glowing-sea-slug/index.html