{"id":306968,"date":"2026-02-28T20:13:07","date_gmt":"2026-02-28T20:13:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/306968\/"},"modified":"2026-02-28T20:13:07","modified_gmt":"2026-02-28T20:13:07","slug":"divers-posted-photos-of-a-cute-panda-underwater-it-turned-out-to-be-a-brand-new-species","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/306968\/","title":{"rendered":"Divers Posted Photos of a Cute \u201cPanda\u201d Underwater, It Turned Out to Be a Brand-New Species"},"content":{"rendered":"

A tiny marine invertebrate spotted in photos posted by scuba divers has been identified as a new species off the coast of Japan. Nicknamed the \u201cskeleton panda,\u201d the creature\u2019s markings resemble a panda\u2019s face set against a bony frame.<\/p>\n

The species, formally named Clavelina ossipandae, was described in 2024 after researchers analyzed specimens collected near Kumejima, Japan. Images of the animal had circulated online for years before scientists confirmed it had never been documented.<\/p>\n

A Discovery Sparked by Online Photos<\/p>\n

Photos of the small, translucent organisms first appeared online around 2017, shared by a local diving center. According to Live Science<\/a>, researchers who saw the images suspected the animals <\/a>might represent an undocumented species and began examining collected samples.<\/p>\n

The formal description was published in the journal Species Diversity <\/a>in 2024. The research team included Naohiro Hasegawa of Hokkaido University, who helped analyze the morphology of the specimens gathered by divers.<\/p>\n

The Japanese nickname given to the species, \u201cgaikotsu-panda-hoya,\u201d translates to \u201cskeleton panda ascidian,\u201d a reference to the animal\u2019s visual pattern.<\/p>\n

Explaining the Panda-Like Design<\/p>\n

The sea squirt\u2019s resemblance to a panda is striking but coincidental. The white structures that appear to form a skeleton <\/a>are actually blood vessels running horizontally through the gills. As Naohiro Hasegawa<\/a> noted: <\/p>\n

\u201cThe white parts that look like bones are the blood vessels that run horizontally through the sea squirts\u2019 gills. The black parts on the head that look like a panda\u2019s eyes and nose are just a pattern, and we don\u2019t really know why the pattern is there.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The dark markings that resemble eyes and a nose are simply pigmentation patterns. As reported by a video published by Reuters<\/a>, researchers do not yet know why this pattern exists.<\/p>\n

The scientific name reflects these features. Clavelina means \u201clittle bottle\u201d in Latin, describing the animal\u2019s shape, while ossipandae combines os, meaning bone, with panda, directly referencing its unusual appearance.<\/p>\n

\"TranslucentTranslucent sea creatures with panda-like markings glow against the coral reef backdrop. Credit: Naohiro Hasegawa and Hiroshi Kajihara<\/p>\n

A Tiny Filter Feeder in Shallow Waters<\/p>\n

Like other members of the Clavelina genus, Clavelina ossipandae is a filter-feeding marine invertebrate. It attaches itself to hard substrates and pumps water through siphons to extract plankton and other small organic materials.<\/p>\n

The species grows to less than an inch in length, measuring under 20 millimeters, and inhabits shallow waters up to 66 feet (20 meters) deep off the coast of Kumejima. Other sea squirts<\/a> in the same genus, such as Clavelina moluccensis and Clavelina picta, also display striped or spotted patterns, though none mimic a panda as convincingly.<\/p>\n

\"AnatomicalAnatomical overview of panda-patterned zooids, from external form to internal structure. Credit: Species Diversity<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A tiny marine invertebrate spotted in photos posted by scuba divers has been identified as a new species…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":306969,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[111,139,69,147,406],"class_list":["post-306968","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-science","tag-wildlife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/306968","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=306968"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/306968\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/306969"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=306968"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=306968"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=306968"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}