A type of bizarre-looking sea cucumber known as a “headless chicken monster” has been captured on film in the Antarctic Ocean for the first time.
After previously being filmed in the 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.
Described by Extreme Marine 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.
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