Noodling around the deep sea is our #OceanAnimalOfTheMonth for October - the Bathyphysa conifera, more affectionately known as the 'Flying Spaghetti Monster' 🍝🌊
Closely related to jellyfish and corals, this creature is a siphonophore – a colonial animal with a body composed of medusoid and polyp-like zooids. Each zooid in the colony has a specific job, from reproduction to digestion.
Oil workers off the coast of Angola coined the nickname 'Flying Spaghetti Monster' because its long, spaghetti-like appendages reminded them of the deity from the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster.
Fast facts about the Flying Spaghetti Monster:
🌊 Lives in the ocean's midnight zone
📏 Some animals have reached up to 40 metres in length
🔬 Zooids develop from a single fertilised egg
📸: ROV SuBastian/Schmidt Ocean Institute
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7 w
It's quite cute!
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6 w
@stan_rebond It is! Not sure 'cute' is the word we'd use if we came across a 40 metre-long one though!