Image Gallery: Mysterious Ocean-Dwelling 'Mushrooms'

Magic mushrooms

These weird creatures are two new species caught 3,280 feet (1,000 meters) below the ocean surface offshore of southeast Australia. A new taxonomic family was created to classify the primitive animals.

Two new species

Dendrogramma discoides, seen here, has a smaller stalk and disc than the other new Dendrogramma species.

An ocean chanterelle?

The new species resembles an ocean-dwelling mushroom.

Primitive life

Dendrogramma enigmatica, shown here, has a single gut for eating food and excreting waste.

Deep-sea mystery

The animals have no stinging cells, tentacles or cilia. The lack of these features prevents a link with true jellyfish and comb jellies.

From the inside

An inside view of Dendrogramma enigmatica, after the stalk was sliced in half.