Scientists Discover Terrifying New 20-Armed Creature Hidden in Antarctica – Teach Me About Science

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Antarctica is a very mysterious place, a vast area covered in ice and snow, surrounded by the Southern Ocean, with deep, icy waters, not yet fully explored in all its corners.

This place on Earth is considered to be almost inhospitable due to its low temperatures, yet it is the perfect place to do some research, as well as being home to many amazing animals.

In this sense, scientists from the United States announced the discovery of a new animal creature in the scientific journal ‘Invertebrate systematicsWhich completely baffled them, it had a very scary appearance, consisting of 20 arms and a protrusion on the body that looked like a “strawberry”.

This terrifying creature, which looks like an alien or a sci-fi animal, was found during an expedition deep in the Antarctic Ocean in 2022, and is a new animal species of ‘sea ​​feathers“which they gave a scientific name to”Bromachocrinus fragarius.

Sea urchins are also called sea lilies, due to the branched appearance of their arms, however, they are very rare animals to be found in the sea, belonging to the family of lilies, a class of the phylum Echinodermata that includes species such as stars, urchins, sponges and other amazing animals that live in the sea.

The scientists who found this new type of sea feather explained that its habitat is located at a depth of approximately 65 to 3,500 meters below the sea surface.

They also describe it as being reddish-purple in colour, and having 20 arms about 20 centimetres long, with which it moves and floats in the Antarctic Sea.

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Photo credits: Emily L. McLaughlin / Nerida J. Wilson / Greg W. Ross

In order to feed, this sea pen extends its long feathery arms that secrete a sticky substance, with which it mainly catches plankton and other microscopic marine organisms, which form the basis of its survival.

On the other hand, they point out that this sea feather has small tentacles at the top of its body called cerri, from which small claws protrude at their ends, which help it cling to rocks or the sea floor.

After removing these cilia, to see how they were attached to its body, the scientists found round protrusions that resembled strawberries, which is why they decided to name this new marine species, Fragarius, Which is derived from the Latin term “fragment“, which means strawberry.

In addition to this mysterious sea feather, the article describes 3 other new species of ‘Bromachocrinos: P. Unruhi, P. uskglassi And By Wattsroom, Which is just a surprise like P. Fragariusbut with only ten arms, which makes this research more interesting and novel.

This fascinating research, which explains the discovery of 4 new species of Antarctic sea urchins, a marine animal that is very difficult to find, reminds us that our planet is a wonderful and mysterious place, inhabited not only by humans, but by a huge variety of living organisms. Animal species, plants and other microorganisms, which form an essential part of the biodiversity of all ecosystems.

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