Reddish sea creature — with over 70 feet — found by a submarine. It’s a new species

Scientists onboard a submarine piloted themselves through the depths of the South China Sea. As they searched the murky blue waters, they spotted a reddish sea creature covered in dozens of appendages.

It turned out to be a new species.

Researchers explored the South China Sea during a series of five dives on a “manned submersible vehicle” between 2018 and 2023, according to a study published March 20 in the peer-reviewed journal ZooKeys.

During one of these deep-sea dives, the researchers found an unfamiliar-looking reddish sea cucumber, the study said. They carefully collected the unusual animal and preserved it.

Back on the surface, the researchers looked more closely at the sea cucumber and realized they’d discovered a new species: Oneirophanta brunneannulata, or the brown-ringed sea cucumber.

The brown-ringed sea cucumber can reach about 8 inches in length and about 2 inches in width, the study said. It has an “elongated,” tube-shaped body with 20 tentacles and over 70 tube feet.

Sea cucumbers use these feet-like projections to suction onto surfaces and move around, according to the University of Hawai‘i.

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A photo shows the reddish coloring of the brown-ringed sea cucumber. From above, it looks fleshy and squishy with worm-like extensions branching from its back. From underneath, it has several rows of shorter and stubbier feet with dark brown tips.

Researchers said they named the new species after the Latin word “brunneannulata,” meaning “brown rings,” because of the “distinctive brown rings around the (sea cucumber’s) tube feet.”

The brown-ringed sea cucumber was found on a sea slope at a depth of about 4,400 feet, the study said.

So far, the brown-ringed sea cucumber is known from one specimen found in the South China Sea, the study said. The South China Sea is a contested body of water in southeastern Asia that borders Brunei, China, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam.

The new species was identified by its tube feet, tentacles and other subtle physical features, the study said. DNA analysis found the new species had at least 8% genetic divergence from other Oneirophanta sea cucumbers.

The research team included Yunlu Xiao and Haibin Zhang. The team also discovered two more new species of sea cucumber: a yellow-white one and an orange one.

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