(Image credit: Schmidt Ocean Institute)The glass octopus was spotted by an expedition aboard the research study vessel Falkor, run by the Schmidt Ocean Institute, a not-for-profit operating foundation co-founded by Wendy and Eric Schmidt, the former CEO of Google. (Image credit: Schmidt Ocean Institute)Image 2 of 5Feathery-like broad pink coral in the Central Pacific Ocean. (Image credit: Schmidt Ocean Institute)Image 3 of 5A squat lobster on golden coral in the Central Pacific Ocean.

This seldom seen glass octopus bared all recently– even a view of its innards– when an underwater robotic shot it with dignity skyrocketing through the deep waters of the Central Pacific Ocean. Marine biologists found the elusive glass octopus (Vitreledonella richardi) during a 34-day expedition off the remote Phoenix Islands, an island chain located more than 3,200 miles (5,100 kilometers) northeast of Sydney, Australia.Like other “glass” creatures, such as glass frogs and certain comb jellies, glass octopuses are practically entirely transparent, with just their round eyes, optic nerve and digestion system appearing opaque. The expedition team reported two encounters with the glass octopus– an excellent count offered that formerly there was such limited video footage of these clear cephalopods, researchers needed to learn more about them by studying portions of them in the gut contents of their predators.Related: Photos: Ghostly dumbo octopus dances in the deep sea Glass octopuses werent discovered till 1918. Little is learnt about these cephalopods, other than that they live in tropical and subtropical areas in the deep ocean in the mesopelagic, or twilight zone, 656 to 3,280 feet (200 to 1,000 meters) below the surface, and the bathypelagic, or midnight zone, 3,280 to 9,800 feet (1,000 to 3,000 m) below the surface area, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature.Glass octopuses round eye shape might have progressed to minimize the silhouette of the creatures eyes when seen from below, “and becomes part of the animals camouflage strategy,” according to a 1992 report in the Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom.Footage of glass octopuses is extremely unusual. (Image credit: Schmidt Ocean Institute)The glass octopus was found by an exploration aboard the research vessel Falkor, run by the Schmidt Ocean Institute, a nonprofit operating foundation co-founded by Wendy and Eric Schmidt, the previous CEO of Google. Scientists from Boston University and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution also took part in the expedition.Image 1 of 5White coral covered with fan stars in the Central Pacific Ocean. (Image credit: Schmidt Ocean Institute)Image 2 of 5Feathery-like broad pink coral in the Central Pacific Ocean. (Image credit: Schmidt Ocean Institute)Image 3 of 5A squat lobster on golden coral in the Central Pacific Ocean. (Image credit: Schmidt Ocean Institute)Image 4 of 5The launch of the undersea robotic SuBastian. (Image credit: Schmidt Ocean Institute)Image 5 of 5A drone recorded this view of the Falkor research study vessel. (Image credit: Schmidt Ocean Institute)During the exploration, which ended July 8, a crew of marine researchers found a handful of what are most likely newfound marine animals on nine formerly unexplored submarine mountains known as seamounts. The team likewise completed high-resolution seafloor mapping of more than 11,500 square miles (30,000 square km) around the island chain and video recordings of five extra seamounts filmed by the underwater robot SuBastian, according to a declaration. SuBastian also snagged video of a whale shark (the biggest living fish worldwide) and a long-legged crab stealing a fish from another crab.The expedition sent SuBastian on 21 dives, allowing the robotic to tape more than 182 hours on the seafloor. Seven of those dives happened in the U.S. Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument (PRIMNM), which was developed in 2009 and expanded in 2014. The exploration allowed scientists to document the monolith, where marine animals are protected. The Falkor also reviewed parts of the Phoenix Islands that its scientists had actually studied in 2017, which enabled researchers to collect data that will assist them discover how the whole environment and seamounts habitats are connected together.”The Ocean holds marvels and guarantees we havent even imagined, much less found,” Wendy Schmidt said in the statement. “Expeditions like these teach us why we require to increase our efforts to restore and better understand marine communities everywhere– because the fantastic chain of life that starts in the ocean is crucial for human health and wellbeing.”Originally released on Live Science.