Unidentified floating object: Mysterious blob filmed in the deep - and no-one can work out what it could be

  • YouTube video leaves commentators baffled
  • Creature could be a jellyfish - but it appears to have organs
  • It could be a discarded whale placenta - but it has strange markings
  • It could be a fishing net - but it seems to move under its own control

By Eddie Wrenn for MailOnline

Published: | Updated:

A mysterious ocean 'blob' has been recorded by a deep-sea remote-controlled underwater camera.

The creature looks like nothing seen before, with speculators suggesting it is everything from a jellyfish to the remains of a whale placenta.

While, at a quick glance, the description of a jellyfish makes sense, the creature has organs and appendages never spotted on a jellyfish before.

Meanwhile it could be a whale placenta, but if that is the case then the hexagonal shapes on the skin are a mystery.

Deep sea jellyfish or whale placenta? No-one has yet been able to confirm this creature's origins

Identified: The mysterious creature has been revealed to be a deep sea jellyfish

Objects within: The creature appears to have very un-jellyfish-like qualities, such as this sack of organic looking flesh

Objects within: The creature is a rarely studied jelly fish known as Deepstaria Enigmatica

Here the hexagonal markings on the creature can be seen - something else which implies this is not a jellyfish

Unusual: The hexagonal markings on the creature implied the creature was not a jellyfish

Is it this? Deepstaria Enigmatica is a contender - but the 'blob' seems to have organs of some kind

Solved: The blob is a Deepstaria Enigmatica - a jelly fish which grows to approximately 60cm in width

If it is a jellyfish, it might be a Stygiomedusa Gigantea. This type of jellyfish - which can grow up to six metres in length - has only been spotted 114 times in 110 years, so details on it are scant.

But again, the appendages get in the way.

Another suggestion is Deepstaria Enigmatica, another rarely-studied jellyfish, which like most of its kind is colourless.

However it has reported to have a brown stomach, with one description saying the passages to the stomach are 'somewhat irregular-edged, forming a reticulate network'.

This might explain the hexagonal markings on the top of the creature - but again, what are the organs doing there?

Those markings lead one commentator on the website Snopes - which tries to debunk or confirm rumours - to suggest this is simply nothing more than a fishing net.

But again, the appendages get in the way.

Another mystery - a man-made one, this time - is exactly where this video was filmed. It was added to YouTube on April 27 this year, and appears to have been filmed two days earlier, but the poster did not leave any other details about the sighting.

Tentacle, feeler, or organ? The creature has many bizarre appendages which have not yet been explained

Bizarre: The creature had many bizarre appendages which have now been explained as testicles

YouTube commentators suggest this is a specimen of the Deepstaria enigmatica jellyfish, others say it may be a whale placenta

Wrong: YouTube commentators suggested it may be a whale placenta

Other strange organs keep viewers scratching their heads - what is this thing?

Other strange organs kept viewers scratching their heads but the mystery has now been solved

See the video here:


Most watched News videos

Comments 263

Share what you think

  View all

The comments below have not been moderated.

  View all

The views expressed in the contents above are those of our users and do not necessarily reflect the views of MailOnline.

We are no longer accepting comments on this article.