Ten new species of worms, jelly fishes and starfishes have been found thriving in the dark depths of the Atlantic Ocean. In a quest to document all marine life, a group of scientists stumbled upon oddly-shaped creatures with brightly-colored insides. The transparent creatures looked bizarre, unlike anything that they have seen before. The scientists used the latest technology submersible to document these new species.

The scientists said that the new creatures that were discovered were the missing link between vertebrate and invertebrate animals, Mail Online reported. The research was part of the MAR-ECO program which was a project on board the James Cook, a research vessel. The scientists were from the University of Aberdeen, leading contributors to marine life studies on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge found in between Iceland and the Azores.

Just some of the new creatures that were found were a Basket Star or Gorgon Head Starfish (Euryalid Ophiuroid-Gorgonocephalus sp.) which was found at a depth of 800 meters below sea level, the Telegraph reported. The basket star looked like an orange basket with intertwined branches. Another creature was the Polynoid Polychaete worm which was found at a depth of 2,500 meters. This glowing blue worm looked like a brush with soft bristles all over its wriggly body.

A glowing purple enteropneust worm that looked more like a soft mushroom was seen attached on the seafloor using its small tentacles. Another fantastic creature was a Hydromedusa with a glowing orange body. The two were found 2,500 meters below sea level.

What surprised scientists were the stark difference of these creatures compared from the other side of the ridge. When the documented species in the northwest plains, they found a group of enteropneust acorn worms which were very rare in the Pacific Ocean floor.

The scientists said that they these could be the missing link in evolution between vertebrates and invertebrates. The worms had no eyes, no obvious signs of a brain or sense organs but there is a primitive head end and a tail end.

Aside from discovering new species, scientists were also curious about how the animals feed especially since food in this part of the seafloor was scarce. The research team, therefore, concluded that the availability of food supply affected the diversity of species and numbers of animals in both parts of the ridge.

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