![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/buenos-aires-argentina-recent-deep-120394954.jpg\")
The giant phantom jellyfish can grow up to 33 feet long. Schmidt Ocean Institute via Storyful<\/p>\n
The sea critter was a rare species, Stygiomedusa gigantea, or a giant phantom jelly, a rare species that can grow to over 20 feet long with a bell that can measure over 3 feet across, according to a release by Schmidt.<\/a><\/p>\n In the mesmerizing footage, captured via an autonomous submersible known as ROV SuBastian, the Goliath sea jelly is seen contracting and extending its undulating, ribbon-like tendrils into the deep like an aquatic burlesque dancer.<\/p>\n Not much is known about the exceedingly rare jumbo jelly, with only around\u00a0118 sightings over 110 years<\/a>.<\/p>\n But the deep-sea denizen is believed to reside in every ocean, except the Arctic Ocean, inhabiting depths of up to 22,000 feet.<\/p>\n Interestingly, giant phantom jellyfish do not sting like other jellyfish. <\/p>\n Instead, they use their four ribbon-like\u00a0oral arms\u00a0to nab grab their prey \u2014 believed to be plankton and small fish<\/a> \u2014 and guide it towards their mouth, Popular Science reported.<\/a><\/p>\n That wasn\u2019t the only anomalous critter the Schmidt oceanographers found rolling in the deep. <\/p>\n The team chronicled 28 suspected new species ranging from worms to anemones. <\/p>\n They also discovered several rich reef systems, including the largest-known\u00a0Bathelia candida\u00a0coral reef in the world.<\/p>\n \u201cWe collected an unprecedented number of chemical, physical, and biological samples that will be used to understand connections in our waters for years to come,\u201d declared Dr. Melisa Fern\u00e1ndez Severini of Instituto Argentino de Oceanograf\u00eda and CONICET. \u201cThese samples represent a unique opportunity to understand not only how extraordinary these extreme ecosystems are, but also how vulnerable they can be.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Its presence could make a minuscule fish downright jelly. Scientists were awestruck after discovering a schoolbus-sized phantom jellyfish…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":449115,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[51],"tags":[1147,6202,79,201],"class_list":{"0":"post-449114","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wildlife","8":"tag-animals","9":"tag-ocean","10":"tag-science","11":"tag-wildlife"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/449114","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=449114"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/449114\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/449115"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=449114"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=449114"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=449114"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Jellyfish](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/buenos-aires-argentina-recent-deep-120394948.jpg\")
The jellyfish doesn\u2019t have stingers but instead nabs prey with its four tendrils and guides them to its mouth. Schmidt Ocean Institute via Storyful<\/p>\n