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A jellyfish like creature which has a striking resemblance to a parody religious god has been found living beneath the ocean.

This footage was captured by a remote control underwater vehicle and shows a 'flying spaghetti monster' living 4,000ft beneath the Atlantic.

BP workers were so amazed by the creature's similarities to the mythical god that they called their discovery after it.

(Image: YouTube / Serpent Project)

They then sent the footage, filmed off the cost of Angola, to marine scientists in Southampton.

Experts at the National Oceanography Centre believe the monster is a type of siphonophore - similar to jellyfish - known technically as Bathyphysa conifera.

In 2005 physics graduate Bobby Henderson created the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster as a protest against the teaching of Intelligent design - a theory that the creation of the universe can be explained by intelligent argument and not natural occurences.

(Image: Wikipedia)

The central strand of the religion is that an entity consisting of pasta and meatballs - the Flying Spaghetti Monster - created the universe after a boozing session.

Believers are called Pastafarians and celebrate every Friday as a holy day. Pastafarianism is popular among students in several US states and parts of Europe.

Siphonophores belong to a family that includes both corals and jellyfish and are colonies of thousands of creatures.

The deadly Portuguese man o' war is Bathyphysa conifera's most famous cousin.