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Creepy or cute? Meet the skeleton panda sea squirt, Japan's newest species

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Reuters

No matter whether you think it&#x27;s cute or creepy, the skeleton panda sea squirt is one of Japan&#x27;s newest species.Its distinctive skeleton-like body structure and black spots that mimic a panda&#x27;s have made it popular with divers visiting the Japanese island of Kumejima ever since images of it were posted online. After its debut online, Japanese netizens quickly coined a name for it: &quot;gaikotsupandahoya&quot;, literally Japanese for &quot;skeleton panda sea squirt&quot;.But the diminutive sea creature measuring up to 2 centimetres (0.78 inch) had never been studied by scientists. Then on February 1 Japanese researchers published a new paper that brought with it an official scientific name for the skeleton panda sea squirt: Clavelina ossipandae. The Latin name - &quot;Clavelina&quot; meaning &quot;little bottle&quot; and &quot;ossipandae&quot; referring to its skeleton and panda-like appearance - marks the sea squirt&#x27;s arrival as a new species.&quot;The white parts that look like bones are the blood vessels that run horizontally through the sea squirts&#x27; gills. The black parts on the head that look like a panda&#x27;s eyes and nose are just a pattern, and we don&#x27;t really know why the pattern is there,&quot; said Naohiro Hasegawa, a researcher specialising in sea squirts from the University of Hokkaido in northern Japan and lead author on the new paper.Hasegawa first saw images of the skeleton panda sea squirt while browsing Twitter (now X) in 2018.&quot;It was at that point that I realised it was probably quite rare because it looks different to the other sea squirts,&quot; he said.Kumejima diver Shunji Terai was first introduced to the sea squirts by a friend in 2017. His diving shop on the island now sees visits from customers drawn there after seeing the unusual creatures on social media.<div>(Production: Tom Bateman)</div>

No matter whether you think it's cute or creepy, the skeleton panda sea squirt is one of Japan's newest species.

No matter whether you think it's cute or creepy, the skeleton panda sea squirt is one of Japan's newest species.