National Geographic caught a crazy looking creature on camera in the Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument in Hawaii, a US national monument covering 583,000 square miles of water. In 2018 a group of researchers on the Nautilus Expedition decided to go 1km under the surface to observe ten previously unexplored sites for the marine life.
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The scientists were initially surprised when the creature was spotted, one even claiming that it 'looks like a muppet'. The creature appeared to puff up at them in self-defence, “It’s getting defensive, it’s getting mad." However, the bizarre eel is actually opening its mouth in self-defence to inflate like a balloon. It then later returned back to its normal size and swam away.
The researchers identified the creature as a gulper eel or pelican eel, a rare deep-sea eel which can open its mouth to 11 times the size it's body. This mechanism allows the eels to catch all kinds of prey like a fishing net, despite this it is mostly known to eat small crustaceans.
Watch the video above to see the creature in action.
