This dandelion siphonophore is the first we observed on this expedition. Found at approximately 2,530 meters (8,300 feet) depth, we were able to see the feeding tentacles extended around the animal like a spider web as well as the pulsating nectophores, found just below and around the “float,” which helped to keep the central body suspended.
On the rare occasions we encounter these invertebrates, they appear from a distance as a pulsating, faintly glowing, orange-yellow ball that seems to hover just above the bottom