Bathyphysa conifera is a species of colonial organism found thousands of feet underwater off the coast of Chile. The Flying Spaghetti Monster is real, and Falkor found it.
Scientists captured the footage with a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) deployed from the research vessel Falkor (too) close to a previously unexplored seamount on the Nazca Ridge, an underwater mountain chain in the southeastern Pacific Ocean. In the video, the spaghetti monster (Bathyphysa conifera) is filmed up close, revealing the creature's pink-tipped, sausage-like arms and other filamentous appendages.
Be sure to read Live Science's report on the Schmidt Ocean Institute's mission, which found all sorts of other goodies lurking in the depths.
Beyond mapping seamounts to high resolution and conducting ROV surveys, the team captured the first camera footage of a live Promachoteuthis squid, a genus that is so rare that only three species have been described based on only a few collected specimens, several of which are from the late 1800s. Until now, the squid genus has only been characterized from dead samples found in nets. They also documented a Casper octopus, the first time this species has been seen in the Southern Pacific. Two rare Bathyphysa siphonophores, commonly known as flying spaghetti monsters, were also seen during the expedition.
Previously:
• Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster denied legal recognition in Australia
• Discover the Flying Spaghetti Monster as a pixel pirate
• Pastafarianism: Flying Spaghetti Monster cult grows
• How a US soldier finally got his Pastafarian dogtags
• Flying Spaghetti Monster to star at American Academy of Religion
