Researchers describe a novel species of jellyfish discovered in a remote location in Japan

A research team has published a description of a rare medusa found at a depth of 812 meters. The animal has been sighted only twice in a deep-sea volcanic structure called Sumisu Caldera, in the Ogasawara Islands. The gelatinous animal with a diameter of about 10 cm and a red stomach resembling the Cross of St. George when seen from above is Santjordia pagesi, a newly described species of medusa. Medusae are a type of free-swimming, umbrella-shaped jellyfish with a reduced stalk.The new species is reported in an article published in the journal Zootaxa.André Morandini, last author of the article, was part of the research team. He is a professor of zoology at the University of São Paulo's Institute of Biosciences (IB-USP) and Director of the Center for Marine Biology (CEBIMar) at the same university. The other authors are researchers at the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC), in Japan, and the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology (OIST), also in ...