What a slug.
That line could be used as an insult for, say, a member of a sports team not expending enough effort. After all, the notoriously slow-moving mollusks are not exactly known for their hustle. But for a scientific team who found a remarkable creature, literally beyond the depths of where conventional slugs dwell, the line becomes quite a compliment.
When Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI) researchers sent a remotely operated submersible down 8,576 feet down off the coast of Northern California, they were on a general “fishing expedition,” looking for nothing in particular. But they found something special — a slug-like creature “wearing” a hood it uses to capture prey; sporting glowing, see-through skin revealing colorful internal organs; and walking with an appendage that resembled a snail’s foot.
That strange combination of gastropod and mollusk features elicited a nickname: the ‘’Mystery Mollusc.” Over 20 years since that initial siting, the MBARI team has encountered the creature over 185 times, and analyzed with multiple techniques. Their detailed description of the curious creature is available in a report in Deep Sea Research Part I.
