Prior to this discovery, the question of what the ‘monster larvae’ grow into had been puzzling scientists for nearly 200 years. The link between the two animals, which until 2012 had been classified as two different species, was only confirmed by comparing DNA sequences of larvae and adult specimens. The larvae are rarely seen and have most often been encountered during studies of gut contents of larger open ocean predators such as tuna and dolphin. These thick-bodied colourful and unusual looking larvae eventually develop into full grown red pigmented deep-sea shrimp. When these shrimp reproduce, they produce a ‘monster larva’. Many of these animals appear alien to us some having huge eyes to capture any remaining light, immense gaping jaws filled with needle sharp teeth, and with transparent, inky black or deep red bodies, allowing them to disappear in the dark. Thousands of fish, seastars, crustaceans, corals, jellyfish and worms, have evolved to survive here. Yet, there is life – the deep oceans are filled with a myriad of strange life forms, creatures beyond our imagination. It is even harder to imagine there could be anything living there. It is hard to imagine a more hostile environment than this icy cold, pitch black, crushing ecosystem of the deep ocean. Once you reach the depths of the ocean the pressure will be immense, the temperature around freezing, and all light absent. Dive deeper and the temperature will drop and the pressure rise. In the first few tens of metres there would be some light remaining, but this would start to fade rapidly. Imagine you could travel away from our familiar shores, out to the open ocean and begin diving down.
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