It is an overused expression that 'we know more about the planets in the Solar System than we do about our own oceans', but this realm never ceases to surpise us. In the last 12 months marine biologists from the Monterey Bay Aquarium and Research Institute (MBARI), have described two new species of jellies that were until now unknown. Doubtless, there are many more awaiting discovery.

The MBARI institution in California is recognized as a leading oceanography research centre. Equiped with autonomous submersible vehicles, MBARI launches missions to the bottom of the oceans almost daily. Having accumulated hundreds of hours of underwater video footage and still images, scientist now have the task of describing a miriad of weird and woderful deep sea creatures that were until now unknown. For the moment many remain nameless, only with nicknames related to their alien shapes and silhouettes.

Kevin Raskoff - MBARI

The latest two discoveries are a large red and a semi-transparent jelly. They were encountered at depths of between 150 and 500m, and one of them is thought to be a canibal. Despite MBARI's frequent missions to such depths, and the huge wealth of knowledge accumulated to date, marien biologist Kevin Raskoff admits: 'It is a pleasant surprise that there are still mysteries in the depths of the ocean, and that species still exist somewhere in the dark, that we know nothing about.'

Source: MBARI