Up Close and Personal With the Mysterious "Placental Jellyfish"

http://youtu.be/EwCgcwuFsBk Last week, a video of this mysterious blob floating 5000 feet under the sea was all over the Internet. Was it a whale placenta? A jellyfish? After some collective ooing and aahing, folks on the interwebs put their thinking hats on. Craig McClain at Deep Sea News dug through the literature and found a 1988 paper describing just such a jellyfish, calling it Deepstaria reticulum. Now the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute has posted a stunning video of Deepstaria jellyfish. Watch it to learn more about Deepstaria---and to look at pretty images. Win win for a Friday afternoon. [via Deep Sea News]