Featured Image Credit: marinespecies.org
The ocean is a vast expanse of water filled with hundreds, maybe thousands, of species that we have yet to discover. As scientist work to discover new species, they are also rediscovering species that have not been seen in decades.
One example is the Rhizaostoma luteum jellyfish that was first discovered in the beginning of the 19th century. In that time period, only 9 animals were found. That lead scientists to believe they were extremely rare. Especially considering that no one could find one specimen for 6 decades.
After a large effort by scientists and citizens alike, the community has come to the conclusion that these animals are actually not really that difficult to find. Apparently, you just have to know how to look. Scientists believe that jellyfish have been misidentified as Rhizostoma octopus for years. Which means that these jellyfish are much more abundant than we originally thought. Great news for the jellyfish!
In fact, the distribution of this jellyfish is very large. It’s range spreads throughout the Mediterranean Sea and into the Atlantic Ocean. The rediscovery of the species stemmed from a biodiversity study that was collecting large amount of specimens throughout the area. Efforts like that are extremely important to the scientific community as a whole.
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