Local scuba diver Raniero Borg is no stranger to the limelight, dedicating his popular Facebook page Raniero’s Adventures to raising awareness of sea pollution and underwater waste. But a recent discovery by the diver has made it onto popular British news site Daily Mail Online for a very different reason.

Posting a video featuring a “strange spectral fish” he discovered near Marsalforn in Gozo, Raniero appealed for information about it on his page, describing it as something he has “never come across” throughout his 40 years of diving experience.

And it certainly looks spooky! In comments to the Mail Online, Raniero says “it had a large mouth and you could see its gut as its body was transparent. It was approx 12 inches in length and around eight inches wide.”

Thankfully, since the sighting, the baffled diver has discovered what the rare creature is. Mail Online reports that “after consulting contacts at Malta’s International Ocean Institute, he has discovered that what he saw was a type of salp.” 

And for those (like us) who have no idea what a salp is, it’s commonly mistaken for a jellyfish, but isn’t. A filter feeder which feeds on tiny algae, salps are rarely encountered by humans, probably owing to the fact that they only live between two weeks and three months before they become a tasty lunch for larger fish.

Watch Raniero's video of the spooky encounter:

We’re kinda sure they must get mistaken for plastic debris too! Have you ever encountered this spooky creature?