Deep sea jellyfish

You might have seen that video clip of a gelatinous blob, undulating around the camera of a deep sea oil rig, which recently went viral. (It's had more than 5 million hits on YouTube.)

Well, this is the one which really should go viral. That blob was apparently Deepstaria reticulum, a deep sea jellyfish. To my mind, the explanation makes the whole thing even more fascinating.

You'd better learn to enjoy jellyfish, anyway, because as we're destroying the ocean - through over-fishing, habitat destruction, and global warming - jellyfish seem to be benefiting (maybe not this particular species, of course).

We may end up with nothing but jellyfish. Of course, a lot of human beings will likely starve to death before then. But that's not stopping us, is it?