There\u2019s a creature in the ocean that\u2019s longer than a tennis court and has bushy mane-like tentacles that paralyse its prey \u2013 and scientists just shared staggering footage of it.\u00a0<\/p>\n
When marine researchers from National Geographic Pristine Seas visited the kelp forests and rocky reefs of the Chilean Fjords of Patagonia, they encountered large\u00a0lion’s mane jellyfish<\/a>\u00a0swimming through the water.<\/p>\n The hypnotic footage shows the huge jellyfish<\/a> pulsing through the fjords with their tentacles<\/a> billowing behind them like a thick plume of smoke.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThough it may look like jellyfish are just floating along in the ocean, they are actually quite efficient swimmers that move by rhythmically contracting and relaxing their bell-shaped bodies,\u201d says\u00a0Kat Millage<\/a>,\u00a0a marine researcher at National Geographic Pristine Seas. \u201cThis movement forces water backwards which propels them forward.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n These jellies can grow to immense sizes. \u201cSome individuals found in the Arctic and Antarctic have been found to have bells that were nearly 3m (7ft) wide with tentacles up to 30m (100ft) long,\u201d Millage says.<\/p>\n As they swim, they catch tiny prey \u2013 including plankton and small fishes \u2013 using their stinging tentacles. \u201cWhenever something touches one of the jelly’s tentacles, the ‘stinging’ cells fire a tiny harpoon which injects a toxin when it touches the skin of the prey,\u201d says explains. \u201cThis toxin is what causes a jellyfish sting <\/a>to hurt.\u201d<\/p>\n