Scientists Find a 'Muppet'-Like Creature Under Pacific Ocean — Then, They Took a Closer Look

Although space exploration has taken humanity light years ahead in the expanse, researchers are still exploring the depths of the ocean on Earth and are coming across things that catch them by surprise every single time. The creatures found in the dark depths beneath the turbulent oceans are mysterious and masters of camouflage. They disguise themselves for anything from trapping their prey to attracting a mate or just staying away from potential threats. In 2018, a team of oceanographers aboard the EV Nautilus were left dumbfounded as they came across a bizarre deep-sea creature that resembled a muppet in a footage shared by National Geographic (@NatGeo).

The researchers were mapping the seafloor with underwater cameras, microphones, and other instruments to collect samples and video footage of the deep waters. When the team was exploring the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument of the Pacific Ocean in Hawaii. Nearly a mile beneath the surface, their camera caught a black bulbous creature that they couldn’t identify. 

The video opened with the snapshot of a seafloor overlaid with pebbles, rocks, and sediment. Nibbling on a chalky block of sediment was a creature that resembled a “muppet” or a black rat with a long tail. As the camera descended deeper, it revealed that the creature had a pouch-like mouth attached to a lushie tailpiece trailing behind. “Oh my goodness,” one researcher exclaimed behind the camera. “It has googly eyes,” said another.

Before they could hold back their excitement, the creature suddenly inflated its mouth like a balloon, almost as if someone was squeezing a giant black rubber ball, molding it into various shapes. As the team watched, the creature continued its fluid dance movements, morphing into strange formations. At one point, its mouth became so big that one researcher said that it looked like a large watery bladder. The head kept shaking, and in another moment, the creature deflated its mouth and shrunk into a snake-like monster.

Then, this black snake slithered away, with its wriggly tail trailing and undulating at the back, casting a sinister shadow in the blue waters. After a series of surprised giggles and gasps, one researcher guessed that the trippy creature was none other than a “gulper eel.” “Big gulp! The Nautilus team spotted a gulper eel,” the team wrote in a video description.

According to BBC Discover Wildlife, gulper eels are like black-hued “balloon artists” that shapeshift their swollen mouths while twisting and buckling them. Their ability to swell up like a soap bubble or stretch to unthinkable proportions is their back-up plan to gulp down enormous quantities of food. After stuffing their ballooned mouths with food, gulper eels usually deflate them and swim away, as seen in the footage. Given their mouths’ appearance, these eels are also known as “pelican eels.”

These creepy eels use their mouths to scoop up prey such as shrimp and little fish, often swallowing them whole. Also known as “umbrella-mouth gulpers,” these creatures have a white-lined tail down their dorsal fins, the tip of which is studded with light-emitting torches. When trying to attract prey, their tails glow red and pink. Smaller animals are attracted to the light, and as they come in the eel’s vicinity, they are gobbled up. Another crucial part of a gulper eel’s life is mating. The creature is often so desperate to find a mate that its teeth fall out. Once it finds a partner, it dies shortly after mating. Apparently, the eel in the video didn't have a partner yet. According to the researchers, it was “likely a juvenile,” as this species can grow up to three feet in length.