Deep-sea creature — with feather-like body — is new ocean species. Take a look

Miami Herald

18 hours ago

The ocean floor is home to a menagerie of odd and peculiar creatures.
Now, armed with a remote controlled vehicle, researchers in the South China Sea have discovered another.
During surveys from the Institute of Oceanology at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, researchers explored a cold seep in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, according to a study published June 12 in the peer-reviewed journal ZooKeys.
Cold seeps are cracks in the seafloor where chemicals like hydrogen sulfide and methane leak into the water, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. These chemically-rich areas are only habitable for specially adapted animals.
Researchers operating the deep-sea submersible FaXian (meaning discovery in Chinese) found a 'rotten piece of wood' about 2,700 feet below the surface, according to the study.
Sticking out of the wood and flowing in the water were two 'unusual,' feather-like creatures attached to the rotting material by thick stalks, researchers said.
Genetic testing confirmed the stalked creatures belong to a new species of crinoid, also known as sea lilies or feather stars, according to NOAA.
Endoxocrinus kexuei, or the Kexue crinoid, was named after the ocean vessel 'Kexue' from the Chinese Academy of Science for its 'significant contribution to the biological research in the South China Sea,' researchers said.
The crinoid has between 20 and 22 arms that can reach up to 5.5 inches long, according to the study.
The animal's stalk is shorter than its arms, about 2.5 inches long, researchers said.
The crinoids are 'pale yellow-pink in fresh samples,' then white in preservation, according to the study.
Crinoids appear plant-like but are animals with digestive and nervous systems, according to NOAA. Their bodies are made of small calcium carbonate plates held together by ligaments and muscles.
Some crinoids have as few as five arms, while others can have as many as 180, NOAA says.
'All crinoids are suspension feeders, subsisting on the smorgasbord of small plankton and detritus that drifts past their outstretched arms,' NOAA says.Tube feet ('the same structures that line the undersides of sea star arms but without the sucker tips,' NOAA says) help get the food to the creature's mouth, 'conveyor-belt style.'
The new species comes from a family primarily found in tropical waters in the northeastern Atlantic, northern Indian Ocean and western and central Pacific Ocean, according to the study.
The new species was found in the South China Sea, a contested body of water in southeastern Asia that borders Brunei, China, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam.
The research team includes Shao'e Sun, Zijie Mei and Zhongli Sha.