--- title: Headless Chicken Sea Monster Captured on video: What to Know description: A bizarre-looking sea cucumber known as a "headless chicken monster" has been recorded swimming in the Antarctic Ocean for the first time. canonical: https://time.com/5431186/headless-chicken-sea-monster/ author: Megan McCluskey article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-10-22T19:51:44.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:55:34.591Z og:title: Elusive 'Headless Chicken Monster' Captured on Film og:description: The bizarre-looking sea cucumber can measure up to nearly 10 inches in length og:url: https://time.com/5431186/headless-chicken-sea-monster/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte65c1052e01f20f0/69893d2a457a5213edd5faff/screen-shot-2018-10-22-at-3-39-37-pm.png?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Screen Shot 2018-10-22 at 3.39.37 PM og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Elusive 'Headless Chicken Monster' Captured on Film twitter:description: The bizarre-looking sea cucumber can measure up to nearly 10 inches in length twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte65c1052e01f20f0/69893d2a457a5213edd5faff/screen-shot-2018-10-22-at-3-39-37-pm.png?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Elusive 'Headless Chicken Monster' Captured on Video in Antarctic Ocean  by [Megan McCluskey](https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/)  ## Megan McCluskey Staff Writer Oct 22, 2018 7:51 PM UTC  AusAntarctic  by [Megan McCluskey](https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/)  ## Megan McCluskey Staff Writer Oct 22, 2018 7:51 PM UTC A type of bizarre-looking sea [cucumber](http://time.com/4047537/cucumbers-salmonella/) known as a “headless chicken monster” has been captured on film in the [Antarctic Ocean](http://time.com/antarctica-climate-change/) for the first time. After previously being filmed in the [Gulf of Mexico](http://time.com/4363260/dead-zone-gulf-of-mexico/) last year, the elusive Enypniastes eximia was recorded swimming in Southern Ocean waters off the coast of East Antarctica thanks to new underwater camera technology developed by the Australian Antarctic Division. “Some of the footage we are getting back from the cameras is breathtaking, including species we have never seen in this part of the world,” Australian Antarctic Division program leader Dirk Welsford said in a [statement](https://www.geek.com/news/headless-chicken-monster-spotted-in-southern-ocean-1757108/). Described by [Extreme Marine](https://extrememarine.org.uk/2016/11/enypniastes-eximia-can-a-sea-cucumber-be-extreme/) as having a “distinctive bulbous barrel shaped body with a large webbed vampiric veil,” the headless chicken sea monster, a fully transparent deep-sea creature can measure up to nearly 10 inches in length. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5431186/headless-chicken-sea-monster/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5431186/headless-chicken-sea-monster/"},"headline":"Elusive 'Headless Chicken Monster' Captured on Video in Antarctic Ocean","datePublished":"2018-10-22T19:51:44.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:55:34.591Z","description":"The bizarre-looking sea cucumber can measure up to nearly 10 inches in length","url":"https://time.com/5431186/headless-chicken-sea-monster/","keywords":["Newsfeed","animals","Ocean"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte65c1052e01f20f0/69893d2a457a5213edd5faff/screen-shot-2018-10-22-at-3-39-37-pm.png?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Megan McCluskey","jobTitle":"Staff Writer","url":"https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte65c1052e01f20f0/69893d2a457a5213edd5faff/screen-shot-2018-10-22-at-3-39-37-pm.png?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Screen Shot 2018-10-22 at 3.39.37 PM","caption":"","creditText":"AusAntarctic","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5431186/headless-chicken-sea-monster/","name":"Elusive 'Headless Chicken Monster' Captured on Video in Antarctic Ocean"}}]}] ```