Rare 'headless chicken monster' living underwater captured on film

After years of evading human eyes, researchers were finally able to capture the elusive underwater “headless chicken monster” on camera.

Enypniastes eximia, the deep-sea swimming sea cucumber, also known as a “headless chicken monster”, was filmed in Southern Ocean waters off East Antarctica, said the Australian Antarctic Division.

Behold the majestic "headless chicken monster" or Enypniasties eximia, spotted recently in the Southern Ocean for the first time on an Australian fisheries camera. https://t.co/jQHv5L0uE3 pic.twitter.com/ZeChEiivCy — Antarctic Division (@AusAntarctic) October 20, 2018

The rare underwater creature, which looks like a bulbous, red creature with a webbed swimming fin resembling a collar, has only been filmed in the Gulf of Mexico before.

The footage filmed will now be fed into the international body managing the Southern Ocean – Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR), said Australian Antarctic Division Program Leader Dr Dirk Welsford.

“Some of the footage we are getting back from the cameras is breathtaking, including species we have never seen in this part of the world,” Dr Welsford said.

“The Southern Ocean is home to an incredible abundance and variety of marine life, including commercially sought-after species, the harvesting of which must be carefully managed for future generations,” Gillian Slocum, Australia’s Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources Commissioner, said in a statement.