Scientists discovered the life form in a region referred to as the "Forest of the Weird."
Hanging out in an ancient area of the Pacific, about 1.5 miles down, an alien-like head attached to a long stalk was discovered by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
NOAA is calling the bizarre creature an "E.T. sponge."
"Rising high on a stalk, this sponge had a body with two large holes oddly reminiscent of the large eyes of the alien from the beloved movie, E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial," the NOAA said in a press release.
Sure, the name "E.T. sponge" sounds pretty neat, but its official and rather fancy name is Advhena magnifica. It was just one of many such life forms found more than 800 miles southwest of Hawaii — proving that the ocean can indeed be a scary place.
"We usually try to associate the name to something unique about that species, or we can honour someone, the expedition name, or a locality," scientist Cristiana Castello Branco told The Sydney Morning Herald.
"The shape of this sponge is reminiscent of an alien, like in the movies, with what looks like a long thin neck, an elongated head and huge eyes. Advhena is from the Latin advena, which means alien. While we haven't 'officially' given it a common name in our paper, 'E.T. sponge' seems to fit."
The creature lives in the area scientists call the "Forest of the Weird." The spot includes an "alien-like community" of these sponges and several other interesting forms of life humans quite haven't discovered yet. I'm excited to see what else they find down there.
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