11 Weird Worms, Jellyfish and Other Spineless Sea Creatures

Found in the Celebes Sea, this worm is, well ... this worm seems confused. Scientists call it a squidworm. (No, not Squidward.)

Crossota norvegica, a jellyfish, collected from the deep Arctic Canada Basin.

Scientists found this strange creature at the Great Barrier Reef's Lizard Island and named it, aptly, the Christmas tree worm. One better might have been "fake plastic Christmas tree worm," but it's still a pretty good name. (Scientists also refer to it as Spirobranchus giganteus). The spiral "branches" are actually the worm's breathing and feeding apparatus. The worm itself lives in a tube, and it can withdraw its tree-like crowns if threatened.

The acantharians are one of the four types of large amoebae that occur in marine open waters. "Large" in this case is relative, as this microscopic creature is have skeletons made of a single crystal of strontium sulfate that quickly dissolves in the ocean water after the cell dies. Together with other microscopic organisms, though, amoebas like this account for most of the biomass on Earth.

This hydromedusa, Bathykorus bouilloni, is common in the deep waters of the Arctic, about 3,300-feet deep. No one knew it, until robotic submarines investigated, though.

Its name makes it sound like a piece of sexy lingerie, but don't be fooled: The pink see-through fantasia is a sea cucumber, found about a mile and a half deep in the Celebes Sea in the western Pacific (east of Borneo).

This Venus flytrap anemone of the genus Actinoscyphia was found in the Gulf of Mexico. Related to jellyfish, sea anemones get their name from the flower of the same name.

The image of swarms of sea nettles like these Chrysaora fuscescens in Monterey Bay, California, is so intense that they've been bred for aquariums. They do have a sting, though it's rarely a health risk for humans.

This new polyp species,Tubiclavoides striatum, was found on mud volcanoes, inactive carbonate chimneys, and cold-water strands in the Gulf of Cadiz (part of the Atlantic bordering Portugal, Spain and Morocco).

What do you get when a whale dies at sea? (It's not a joke or riddle.) You get a feast, if you're a polychaete worm like this newly discovered Vigtorniella found a about a half mile down on the floor of Sagami Bay, Japan.