Underwater Flying Spaghetti Monster is a Siphonophore
Posted on August 18, 2015
A team from BP was operating an ROV off the coast of Angola. They discovered a strange looking creature at a depth of 1325 meters and named it a Flying Spaghetti Monster (FSM) after the creator in the Pastafarianiasm religion. The creature does look like it has noodly appendages like the FSM.
The Independent reports that the BP ROV operators gave the footage they recorded of the creature to the UK's National Oceanography Center. It has since been identified as a siphonophore by Daniel Jones and Dr. Philip Pugh of the SERPENT project. The species is Bathyphysa conifera.
Siphonophores are colonial animals which live attached to each other. There are over 175 different species with some reaching 40 meters in length. You can find out more about the interesting creatures at siphonophores.org.
An entry on the SERPENT project website says, "In the video it is possible to see the side wings or ptera on the young gastrozooids or feeding polyps. As the tentacles do not appear to have side branches, then that would make the species Bathyphysa conifera."
Take a look: