Bizarre 26-foot-long ‘unicorn of the sea’ baffles divers

In a recent diving adventure, two divers came across a bizarre 26ft bioluminescent worm-like sea creature that was as soft as a feather boa.

Two divers in New Zealand were left awestruck when they recently came across a peculiar 26ft long worm-like sea creature, which is dubbed as ‘unicorns of the sea’. The hollow, wind-sock-like creature was later identified as a Pyrosome, which is a bioluminescent mass made up of hundreds of thousands of tiny organisms that feed on plankton.

The divers captured a video that showed the marine animal changing shape as it moves across the water, described Fox News.

Alien-like sea creature discovered pulsating on New Zealand beach

Video Courtesy: Caters News

“Having never seen one in person or even footage or photos of one before, I was quite incredulous and elated that such a creature existed. It was very puzzling but also fantastic to be able to view it right up close and spend so much time with it,” expressed on the divers, Andrew Buttle.

According to Daily Mail, Pyrosomes are usually known as sea pickles and are not individual creatures, but free-floating colonies of tiny organisms called zooids. Though each zooid is only a few millimeters is size, but they embed themselves into a jellylike tunic, connecting all the individuals into a colony that stretches to several feet in size.

The Pyrosomes are filter feeders that take in seawater containing plankton. After consuming them, the Pyrosomes push out the filtered water. These colonies are open at one end, through which they expel its filtered water. The open end can be as large as 6ft in diameter, which is large enough for a human to fit inside it.

Also, as per Live Science, the Pyrosomes are ‘intensely bioluminescent’ and will respond to other sources of light and to touch by emitting a bright, bluish-green light. These creatures usually live at extreme depths, hence they are rarely seen.

“The ocean is such a fascinating place and much more fascinating to explore when you actually understand some of what you see, such as the different behaviors,” said the other diver Steve Hathaway.