Carnivorous squirt found

The creature, found 4000m down off the coast of Tasmania, stood some half a metre high and was seen to consume creatures that came into contact with its entrapment funnel.

During their month studying the area's deep reefs, the joint American and Australian survey team also found new types of sea spiders, giant sponges and deepwater corals.

While it is known that global warming has an effect on highly temperature-sensitive shallow-water corals, there are signs that deepwater corals are affected too.

"There is strong evidence that this reef system is dying, with most reef-forming coral deeper than 1300m newly dead," Ron Thresher, the project's senior researcher, told regional press.