Discovery of a Solumbellula Sea Pen - First Sighting in the Pacific! | Nautilus Live

At 2994 meters on a never-before-surveyed seamount north of Johnston Atoll, the team made a thrilling discovery — the chance to examine an animal spotted for the very first time in the Pacific Ocean! The sea pen, a colonial cnidarian, had a single large feeding polyp with pinnate (barbed) tentacles stretching over 40 cm from its 2-meter-long stalk.

Solumbellula monocephalus is the only described species in the genus and until this sighting was only known to live in the North and South Atlantic and Indian Oceans. Before this discovery of the colony, the animal had never been seen in the Pacific Ocean. Further review of the footage and this sample will help experts determine if this is the first Pacific S.monocephalus or potentially a new species in this ocean basin.

Enjoy some beautiful close-ups of this coral relative that astounded our team with a detailed view of its stinging feeding tentacles that capture marine snow and food particles drifting by its home on an underwater mountain sedimented saddle. Two individuals were spotted on this dive, confirming a population within the protection of the Johnston Unit of Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument. This huge range expansion of Solumbellula in the Pacific Ocean reminds us how important ocean exploration efforts are to understanding this diversity of our planet!

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[louisanow]

Discoveries like this make me appreciate the clarity of the cameras - and their tech updates. I know missions like this are very expensive and difficult. Thanks for sharing these images with the public!

[jpking]

I watched this live, and when you all came across this I went and monkey sprinted up the stairs to show my wife the stream, and how we're seeing in real-time a science crew discovering a species in a new region for the first time and how exciting it is....

she just goes "oh look at that" and pats me on the head, and I walk away defeated.

It's ok if she doesn't share my passion and excitement for deep sea exploration. Love what you guys do your streams are my favorite thing to have up while I am working. Next expedition here's hoping we see more new discoveries and multiple Dumbo Octopus sightings

[andreeadoria]

For a Sea Pen it's soo big! And totally different from the other .... Species. But this is what makes this creature or whatever it îs even more interesting! 😳 Interesting and beautiful!

[MMK]

this is one of the best channels on Youtube...amazing footage as usual, great work everyone at EVNautilus!

[BlehBleh]

Those tentacles looked like millipedes. What an awesome find. THANK YOU, TEAM EVNAUTILUS!! Being able to see deep into the ocean from the comfort of my home is truly amazing.

[vodkarage]

That was so mesmerizing! Nature sure knows how to make some cool looking life.

[Nolanthegardener]

Wow, it looks like an octopus flower!

[Ezekiel_Allium]

Like a cnidarian crinoid! That's crazy. Probably the coolest example of convergent evolution I've seen.

And it actually made me come to some interesting realization of the similarities to echinoderm evolution and cnidarian life cycles, a jellyfish budding from a polyp is, from my understanding at least, incredibly similar to the evolution of motile clades like the echinozoa and asterozoa, just, yknow, weirder because cnidarians are wild and clone themselves and stuff like that.

[katinapactol-baez]

Just one! I didn't know a single coral polyp could be so huge,

[bryanquick]

this week, on outrageous sea aliens, it's the grabby blobber stalk!

[djaura]

one of my favourite discovery channels on youtube! you guys do such incredible work

[andregoldner]

awesome quality of images and video, congratulations

[chioyeoh]

Thank you so much for posting these online! It's so cool that we get to witness these discoveries here in our homes.. It makes us realize how unexplored our oceans are.

[johnsober]

"So...just a big ol' polyp?"
"Just one big ol' polyp?"
"Just ONE?"
"My mind is just blown right now"
We could tell 😆

[selma]

never seen in the pacific ocean? that's huge! 🤩

[turkeyman]

as cool as this is to see a species so far from where you expect it, I cannot stop seeing this as a cluster of centipedes on a stick 0_0

[bridgeplayer]

omg! it looks so crazy. and so surprising that this is the first time it's ever been seen in the pacific. people think we have progressed but humanity is surprised by nature every day.

[philgroves]

"I'd like to be - under the sea - in an octopus' garden in the shade!"

[QuanNguyen-BDS]

Thank to these videos, i have a chance to see the beauty under the sea.

[dawntemple-walker]

There was a small one of these in the dive: EX1703 dive 14 Winslow Reef area March 22, 2017. After Watching you sample this one I have been more aware of them. The focus was on the Dumbo octopus as it was taking off and it was in the video but I guess missed or not wha was being looked for. Glad to know there are more in the Pacific Ocean.