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How Many Nights of Hanukkah? A harp has its own place in holiday music, but we also think this sponge looks like a super-sized menorah! This newly-discovered carnivorous sponge (Chondrocladia lyra) was found using robotic submersibles operated by the

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Harp Sponge

December 2012

This jewel squid (Histioteuthis bonnellii) lives above the Mid-Atlantic Ridge.

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Jewel Squid

June 2015

This jelly’s red color provides camouflage in the ocean depths.

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Unidentified Comb Jelly

June 2016

These wormlike animals make spiral tracks on the sea floor.

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Deep-Sea Worms

January 2010

On a seamount peak, a huge colony of brittle stars (likely Ophiacantha rosea) feeds on passing particles.

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Millions of Brittle Stars

November 2017

This lizardfish rests on the bottom, waiting to snatch prey.

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Deepsea Lizardfish

June 2017

The long barbel on the chin of this dragonfish has a glowing tip that may attract prey.

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Scaly Dragonfish

March 2018

Giant eyes spot prey. Huge claws grab the prey, and a tiny mouth rips it to shreds.

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Phronima

September 2015

This rarely seen smalleyed rabbitfish, belongs to the order Chimaera. Chimaeras are related to sharks and are cartilaginous animals—they have no real bones.

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Chimaera from the Deep

December 2017

Dr. Stephen Cairns, a Smithsonian research zoologist, studies deep-water corals.

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Dr. Stephen Cairns

January 2010

Photograph of the underside of a gelatinous octopus with a bright yellow bioluminescent ring around her mouth.

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Bioluminescent Octopod

June 2012

red worms penetrate holes in bone

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Zombie Worms Eating Whale Bone

February 2018