montereybayaquarium:

Two crimson bloody-belly comb jellies float in pitch-black water. Their bodies almost seem to be illuminated with a ruby-red glow, and they have rows of hair-like cillia running down the length of their bodies.ALT

🎵
Boos and ghouls of every age,
wouldn’t you like to see something great?
Comb with us and you will sea,
The amazingness of the bloody-belly!

This is bloody-belly,
this is bloody-belly,
Bloody-belly,
Bloody-belly,
Bloody-belly,
Bloody-belly!
🎵

Some 20 years ago, as the signature fog covered the sand dunes of Monterey Bay, bloody-belly comb jellies were first described by scientists at our research partner Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI)! These jellies live in oxygen minimum zones, areas of the ocean where oxygen saturation is at its lowest—and something we painstakingly recreate for them in Into the Deep.

Their various sanguine shades may stand out to us, but act as the perfect camouflage in the deep where the color red looks black, helping them, and any glowing food tucked away in their tummies, hide in plain sight. There’s much that we have learned about our blood-red belly friends, and yet there’s much that remains a mystery!