Red Paper Lantern Jellyfish (Pandea rubra)
Vacuumed up from its habitat a mile down in the ocean, the red paper lantern jelly may not look like much. Mostly water, it’s so fragile that once brought to the surface it’s reduced to a tattered blob in a jar. Pandea rubra has an unusual ability among sea jellies: it can fold up its red “lantern,” or mantle, in neat right angles. Another team studying Pandea rubra was about to name it the “origami jelly” before they realized the species had already been described.
