Scientists are baffled by a gruesome new species dubbed the 'carnivorous death ball' that lives in the deepest part of the ocean. 

The new predatory sponge, officially part of the Chondrocladia genus, was found 11,800 feet deep, east of Montagu Island off the coast of Antarctica.

Looking like some arty installation in a London gallery, the 'incredible specimen' gets its name due to several long appendages ending in pinkish orbs.

These eerie globes are covered in tiny hooks meant to snag its prey – typically small unfortunate crustaceans such as copepods. 

This makes the carnivorous death ball unusually ruthless compared with the gentle, passive, filter-feeding undertaken by most sponges. 

Dr Michelle Taylor, head of science at the Nippon Foundation-Nekton Ocean Census, compared the species to a 'series on ping pong balls on stems'.

'Sponges generally don't eat animal flesh – they normally just filter-feed all of the little particles that are in the water,' she said. 'But this is a very unusual section of the sponge taxa in that they actually capture small amphipods like little crustaceans. 

'These animals get caught in the hooks and then are slowly enveloped over a period of time until all of the nutrients are kind of squeezed out of them.' 

This horror-film-worthy discovery was made on an expedition in February to March this year led by Ocean Census aboard the Schmidt Ocean Institute’s research vessel R/V Falkor. 

Experts used a remotely operated and tethered underwater vehicle called ROV SuBastian to scan the ocean's depths to about 14,700 feet (4,500 metres). 

ROV SuBastian surveyed underwater volcanic calderas, the South Sandwich Trench, and seafloor habitats around Montagu and Saunders Islands. 

Overall, it collected nearly 2,000 specimens across 14 animal groups (phyla), including 30 previously unknown deep-sea species, although there could be more to be confirmed. 

According to Dr Taylor, the pink death balls are 'a few centimetres across' and are thought to have water inside them.

'We presume they increase the surface area that could come into contact with potential prey items,' she told the Daily Mail. 

'Sponges are sedentary organisms –  they will spend their whole life in that one spot.

'That's one of the reasons they have to have efficient ways to capture food, they cannot chase it.' 

Among the other discoveries were new armoured and iridescent scale worms, also referred to 'Elvis worms', known for their shimmering, colourful scales.  

The scales are bioluminescent – they naturally produce and emit light – and produce repeated flashes, presumably to distract potential predators. 

Also found were previously unknown species of sea stars – called Brisingidae, Benthopectinidae and Paxillosidae. 

There were also rare gastropods and bivalves adapted to volcanic and hydrothermal-influenced habitats – extreme environments with high temperatures and pressures. 

Also observed were 'zombie worms’ – officially called Osedax, which is Latin for bone-eater – although these are not thought to be new to science, according to the experts. 

These worms have no mouth or gut and rely on symbiotic bacteria to break down fats inside the bones of whales and other large vertebrates. 

Additional possibly new are black corals and a potential genus of sea pens – which look like old-fashioned writing quills – which are 'undergoing expert assessment'.

Scientists are constantly finding new species around the world, but the ones at the water's deepest darkest depths are among the hardest to locate. 

Still, the vast majority of the world's oceans – about 80 per cent – have not been mapped, explored or even seen by humans.  

While some animals can survive at extreme depths thanks to adaptations, human beings can only go about 400ft unaided by modern technology, such as pressurised submersibles. 

With such equipment, the deepest anyone has been in the ocean is 35,853 feet (10,928 metres) in the Challenger Deep of the Mariana Trench, achieved by Victor Vescovo in April 2019. 

The Southern Ocean, also known as the Antarctic Ocean, 'remains profoundly under-sampled', according to Dr Taylor. 

'To date, we have only assessed under 30 per cent of the samples collected from this expedition, so confirming 30 new species already shows how much biodiversity is still undocumented,' she said. 

'Each confirmed species is a building block for conservation, biodiversity studies, and untold future scientific endeavours. 

'By coupling expeditions with species discovery workshops, we compress what often takes more than a decade into a faster pathway while maintaining scientific rigour by having world experts involved.' 

The same expedition captured the first ever footage of a live colossal squid – the largest invertebrate on the planet.

Before the expedition in March, none have ever been filmed alive before in their natural habitat, either juvenile or adult, Dr Taylor said.