A 390-foot, string-like sea creature was spotted off the coast of Australia

Some of us are more inclined to believe in sea monsters than others, but there’s no denying that what the massive creature that the Schmidt Ocean Institute saw recently is a little creepy.

On Monday, April 6, 2020, the Schmidt Ocean Institute posted a video on Twitter of a thin, silvery organism floating in the open Indian Ocean off the coast of Western Australia. The creature was seen during an expedition in Ningaloo Canyons.

It looks more like a piece of abstract art than marine life, but according to scientists, it’s a giant Apolemia siphonophore.

Logan Mock-Bunting, a spokesperson for the Schmidt Ocean Institute, told Newsweek that the specimen probably measures around 390 feet. If that’s the case, it would be the largest creature of its kind.

Siphonophores are invertebrates, similar to jellyfish, that live in the deep sea. They’re technically large colonies of separate bodies strung together in chains up to 100 feet long. The specimen spotted was hunting, waiting for prey like fish or crustaceans to touch one of its many dangling stinging cells.