"Immortal" jellyfish clone themselves when threatened

A June 2008 reports claims that the species Turritopsis dohrnii is silently invading the world's oceans with the help of a unique reproduction mechanism. Under normal circumstances, it breeds the old-fashioned way via sperm/egg union. When threatened by starvation or injury, however, it reverts to a younger stage of development, completely transforming itself in the process, and allowing it to spawn hundreds of identical copies of itself. Though the "immortal" jellyfish was first discovered in the Mediterranean in 1883, it's unique reproductive ability was not discovered until the 1990's. A fully-grown adult is roughly the size of a human's pinky fingernail.


http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/01/090130-immortal-jellyfish-swarm.html

Frilled Shark

Meet the frilled shark, a rare prehistoric beastie which has survived to this day largely by avoiding contact with humans and staying thousands of feet below the surface.

The specimen in this photo was capture in shallow waters by a fisherman and transferred to Japan's Awashima Marine Park, where it died hours later.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/01/070124-sharks-photo.html

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Inaugural post

Welcome to Weird Sh*t in the Ocean, my attempt to chronicle my fascination with the denizens of the deep dark abyss. As I have a short attention span, I'll avoid a lot of fanfare and get right to it.

I'll begin by bringing to you attention the carnivorous sea squirt.

Using an car-sized robotic probe, a joint US-Australian team explored a rift in the earth's crust known as the Tasman Fracture Zone, approximately 13,200 feet below the ocean's surface.

Included among their discoveries is the carnivorous sea squirt, also known as an ascidian, pictured here.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/environment/4284189/Dozens-of-new-species-discovered-in-previously-unexplored-waters.html