One of the strangest members of the Schyphozoan class is the Enigmatic Bag jellyfish or Deepstaria enigmatica. The name is from the ROV that first caught footage of this animal, the ROV Deepstar, and the fact that it is an enigma.
Description:
Humanity has a strange relationship with the members of the Deepstaria genus. One of the first sightings of a Deepstaria (We’re going to refer to the entire genus because there are only 3 official members and we have little knowledge about any of them specifically.) is from an ROV in 2012.
The footage is very blurry and low quality (just goes to show how much ROV tech has improved in the last 10 years if you compare the footage to modern footage.) but does showcase a large Deepstaria specimen.
Old ROV footage of Deepstaria, presumably a different species from Deepstaria enigmatica indicated by the brown pigment.
The jelly moves in large, undulating movements. It spreads its bell extremely thin and then pulls back together. The only other visible organs besides the bell are the gonads and stomach (at least that’s what the structures look like).
The lines that connect the jelly’s bell are referred to collectively as ‘geometric mesh’. Geometric mesh is a web of nerves and gastrovascular canals. The network moves nutrients around in the jelly’s thin body. You can see this feature very well on the first image but not so much on the brown specimen.
Another member of the Deepstaia genus is the reticulum sp. It’s the second described Deepstaria species. Discovered by Larson, Madin, and Harbison in 1988.
The two red dots are lasers projected by the ROV. Their purpose is to provide a rough size estimate of a specimen. The dots are usually red or green in color, on this particular dive they are 29 cm (11.5 inches) apart.
Even less is known about the reticulum sp. The red color could be camouflage for the deepsea environment but that is still speculation.
There is a species mentioned in our first unidentified jellyfish compilation which could be another member of the Deepstaria genus, however, there has only been one sighting and no specimens collected.
Feeding Mechanism (?):
The way that Deepstaria is by extending itself and expanding the opening under the bell. In this way, it looks almost like a lampshade. The theory is that organisms flowing in the water will swim up into the bell and be captured to be digested.
It is possible that one or more of Deepstaria‘s interior organs looks like a prey item, used to lure Deepstaria‘s own prey into the bell. There is not a good enough specimen to support this theory so take it with a grain of salt.
Gonad and/or stomach organ inside Deepstaria.
Deepstaria feeding. This was taken from a video of an NOAA expedition. In most of the footage from ROVs, Deepstaria is bunched up and folded in on itself. This is because the water jets from the ROV propellers cause the mesoglea to cave in.
image credit: “Shapeshifting Deepstaria Jelly | Nautilus Live” posted to Youtube by EV Nautilus.
Another feature of the Deepstaria genus is (and most jellyfish) the pilot isopod. A pilot isopod is a small crustacean that lives on the inside tissue of the jellyfish. The isopod eats small bits of the jelly’s bell.
The relationship is considered communalistic because the isopod doesn’t eat enough of the jelly’s tissue to cause significant damage, but the jelly is not benefitted from the isopod. Remember: the isopod cannot live without a host, so it wouldn’t want to injure the jellyfish too much.
This relationship is common with jellyfish and different species of crustaceans. It is possible that the isopod may benefit the jelly in some way (that would make the relationship mutualistic) but as of now benefits from a pilot isopod are unclear.
To learn more about symbiotic relationships see this blog post.
Distribution:
The Ulmaridae family of jellyfish, identified by F.S. Russel in 1967, encompasses several jellyfish we have posts about. It is also the family that includes Deepstria.
Other members of the Ulmaridae family include the Aurelia, the Stygiomedusa, and Tiburonia. Each of our posts regarding the respective jellyfish is linked.
Deepstaria is probably a creature of the deep sea, as indicated by the clear or brown color scheme (red is very low on the color spectrum, so it’s less visible under white light; this makes red organisms and objects harder to see in a pitch black environment).
Deepstaria specimens have been spotted (mostly ROV expeditions) in Arctic and Pacific waters. Specifically the Archipiélago de Revillagigedo off the coast of Mexico. Most deep sea creatures don’t keep to a specific range (some do, but free-swimming deep sea fish invertebrates can be found in all the oceans).
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Have a wonderful day.
Cnidology Tonight 
Shore-ly one of your best posts yet. I can’t wait to sea what comes next!
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The Deepstaria is so cool looking! Thank you for sharing this info. How does the Deepstaria not digest the isopod once it’s in there? Or does it live on the outside of the bell?
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