'Headless chicken monster' spotted in Antarctic Ocean

3,509 views · Published 21 October 2018 · 0:36 · Indexed 24 September 2026

Channel: ABC Television Stations · 2018 · News & Politics

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Australian scientists happened upon a unique animal dubbed the "headless chicken monster" during a recent expedition to test new underwater camera technology.

The animal, also nicknamed the "Spanish dancer" but known to the scientific community as Enypniastes eximia, was spotted in the Antarctic Ocean off of eastern Antarctica, according to the Australian government's Department of the Environment and Energy. E. eximia is a swimming sea cucumber that was first filmed in 2017 in the Gulf of Mexico and has never before been seen so far south, scientists said.

Unlike other sea cucumbers that are confined to the sea floor, creatures in the Enypniastes genus have developed webbed, veil-like body parts that allow them to swim up into the water column. https://abc7.la/2yrpSwE

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