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Headless chicken-like sea monster discovered

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A deep-sea swimming sea cucumber has been filmed in the Southern Ocean off East Antarctica for the first time.

Its real name is Enypniastes eximia, but it is more commonly known as the “headless chicken sea monster”, as that is exactly what it looks like!

The creature had previously only been filmed in the Gulf of Mexico.

This remarkable little creature spends most of its time buoying along the seafloor and using its “modified tube-feet” to feed on surface sediments. They can swim if they want to, and use fin-like structures to escape predators or lift off the ocean floor.

Sea cucumbers, such as this one, are an important part of the marine ecosystem — they’re sometimes referred to as the vacuum cleaners of the sea.

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