Some of the world’s most fascinating creatures live underwater. And unlike the more mainstream animals under the sea — seahorses, sharks, and even deep sea anglerfish — one cool member of the aquatic community isn’t talked about or printed on baby clothes. (Although it should be!) This creature is called a flying sea pig, and it is one of the most unique parts of sea life we’ve ever seen.
A flying sea pig was captured on camera in an expedition by the Nautilus Live Ocean Exploration Trust, and you’ll want to give this cutie a bunch of high-fives with its hand-like appendages. In a video shared on YouTube, you can see the flying sea pig in action. It was recorded while researchers were diving at Wetmore Seamount inside the Johnston Atoll Unit of the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument as part of a study funded by NOAA Ocean Exploration via the Ocean Exploration Cooperative Institute. The close-up camera gives unbelievable details of the creature’s appendages, which look like hands with fingers.
Flying Sea Pigs Are Ready for a High-Five
The translucent creature moves its body back and forth like it’s dancing as it moves through the water. It’s mesmerizing to watch! On one side of its body, you can see a bunch of arm-like appendages sticking out with little parts that look like tiny hands on the ends. Humans are far from the only ones to have hands, of course, but we’ve never seen this many little hands on an underwater creature before.
Like most of nature, this feature holds a very special purpose: it helps the flying sea pig eat. “Each of those little hand features at the top, it will scoop up the sediment and move it into its mouth,” one researcher in the video explained.
This ethereal creature has people on the internet completely smitten. One person commented on the video, “1 minute of EVN footage contains more magic than an hour of almost anything else found on the ‘tube. So so grateful.” Someone else wrote, “Sea pigs instantly remind me of Animal Crossing. I had no idea these little guys existed, so cute
!”
What Are Flying Sea Pigs?
Although we call these creatures sea pigs, they aren’t related to farm animals at all. That’s actually a common name for the multiple genera of sea cucumbers (Amperima sp or Peniagone sp) with the feeding tubes set up along the sides of their bodies. The little hand-like parts are teeny, modified mouths, which the sea cucumber uses to sort through and consume sediment on the seafloor. After it eats, you can see its lunch in its stomach and GI tract, thanks to its clear body.
Flying sea pigs are actually a type of sea cucumber, like the one pictured here.
©e2dan/Shutterstock.com
And the flapping cape part you saw in the video? That’s actually a special fin that helps lift this seafloor creature up to find new feeding areas.
The Monterey Bay Aquarium has pictures of the flying sea pig on its website, where you can see its legs and some of its finger-like parts on its tiny mouth-“hands”. According to the organization, these invertebrates live in the deep sea from 1,800-22,000 feet underwater and can be found throughout the world.
They’re easy to miss, as they are only about 1.5-6 inches long. But don’t let their size fool you. If a huge animal like a whale dies and sinks to the seafloor, sea pigs will gather all their friends to devour the sediments from the carcass.
Other Unique Features of Sea Pigs
Flying sea pigs are protective of young crabs, although researchers don’t know why.
©NOAA/MBARI, CC BY-SA 3.0 – Original / License
These marine invertebrates have other unique features, like how they breathe out of their bottoms, according to the Ocean Conservancy. If they ever come above the deepest parts of the ocean, their bodies will disintegrate, meaning that many aspects of a sea pig’s life, mating rituals, and more are still a mystery to researchers.
One thing we do know? Sea pigs are protective of a different type of creature: king crabs. In 2016, the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI) found young lithodid crabs (Neolithodes diomedeae) climbing on and hiding under sea pigs. During a survey, the MBARI researchers found 96% of these young crabs were clinging to the sea pigs, possibly for protection. It’s unclear exactly what benefit this provides the sea pigs, other than just showing their compassionate side.
Flying sea pigs are such interesting beings, made even more special by the fact that most of us will never naturally encounter these animals in our lifetimes. That’s what makes research and videos like this so valuable.
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