Bizarre, miniature deep-sea creatures were found more than 3,000 feet in the Gulf of Mexico. Scientists from the Florida International University said that they were able to identify 14 new species of larvae that appear alien who have horns, misshapen torso, and spikes on the side.
The larvae come in an array of oranges and blues, although many of them are transparent. Study co-author Heather Bracken-Grisson said that most of them are shrimps and lobsters. They are now using deep-sea forensics to match unknown larvae to their known adult counterparts.
Deep-Sea Monsters Found in the Gulf of Mexico
Daily Mail Reported that the larvae scientists found have bizarre features compared to their adult versions. Out of the 14 species they found, 12 were unknown larval species while the other two were the young version of the infraorder Caridea (shrimp)and the suborder Dendrobranchiata (prawn).
The authors wrote that their study presents the first step in identifying the larval diversity in the deep sea as many of the larval descriptions are either missing or non-existent.
Assistant professor Bracken-Grissom noted that sea shrimp have different larval stages and that it might be possible that some of the creatures they found underwater in the Gulf of Mexico went through different larval stages, such as Plesiopenaeus armatus and Meningodora vesca.
Identifying the 14 Deep-Sea Creatures
In the study, titled "A Mysterious World Revealed: Larval-Adult Matching of Deep-Sea Shrimps from the Gulf of Mexico" published in the journal Diversity, researchers wrote that they used DNA barcoding and morphological methods to match the larvae they found to their adult counterparts to identify the larval species.
According to the university's news release, this is not the first time that Bracken-Grissom has given identity to the deep-sea creatures. In 2012, she was able to identify the species known as Cerataspis monstrosa using the same genetic methods to reveal the miniature-sized creatures they found recently.
They were still able to identify the same larvae in their intact form. Bracken-Grissom reveals that this tiny monster is a young form of a shrimp that scientists call Plesiopenaeus armatus.
"A lot of these larvae are found in the mesopelagic zone, open water between 200-1,000 meters, and then settle to the deep seafloor as adults," Bracken-Grissom said in the news release.
She added that most of these species serve as prey for some fish, as well as deep-diving marine mammals and cephalopods, serving a great purpose in the marine food chain.
This study may have presented 14 new species of shrimps and lobsters larvae, but there are still more to be discovered. In particular, researchers emphasized that deep-sea creatures undergo a variety of life cycle stages that scientists still do not know until now. Bracken-Grissom said that solving the mysteries of biodiversity is what drives her to continue searching.
As of now, they have already collected the latest larval specimens from the deepest parts of the Gulf of Mexico as part of the Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative.
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