The first vision ever of the massive squid

In March, Cat Polstad returned from an exploratory trip in Antarctica, where she used a new camera system that was specially designed to search for huge lacquets.

No one has ever taken footage of one of these animals swimming in the depths of the sea. No one was discovered on this trip either.

On the day the ship left, though, Dr. Polstad, a biologist in the depths of the seas, learned of a recent video clip taken on March 9 from the southern Sandwich Islands. The FA Dive team, which is looking for a new naval life, has occurred at the Schmidt Ocean Institute, on my young head, and people wanted to help Dr. Polstad to identify it.

The length of events was about 30 cm (just less than a foot), with a transparent body, sensitive arms and brown spots. It was the massive squid.

“As soon as I saw the footage, I knew that there was a good opportunity,” said Dr. Polstad, the Sepalopod biologist at Oakland Technology University in New Zealand. Consult a distance for Schmidt’s work in Antarctica.

100 years have passed since the enormous squid described it in a scientific paper. In its adult form, the animal is larger than the giant squid, or any other invertebrates on the ground, and can grow to 6 or 7 meters, or even 23 feet.

The first good look at scientists on the species in 1925 was incomplete – just the armies of the squid in the belly of the sperm whale. It is believed that adults spend most of their time in the deep ocean.

Dr. Polstad said that the massive massage sometimes appears on the surface of the ocean, as it is drawn into a fishing boat while a “chewing” fish is a drug addict. Younger samples appeared in the nets net.

However, so far, humans have not seen the massive squid at home, swimming in the deep Antarctic Sea.

One of the reasons that make them out of reach is the huge size of this house. In addition, the squid may avoid us. “They are completely aware of their surroundings, because any disturbance in the water column around them may mean a predator.”

Sperm whales, the main predator of the rocks, diving up to two kilometers (1.25 mph). Perhaps to help them avoid whales, the massive squid develops the world’s largest eyes – larger than basketball.

Dr. Polstad said they also had a “unique mixture of milestones and hooks on weapons and claws,” which was able to emphasize the close examination that the young marine creature in the new shots was a huge axis.

The shots were captured by a remote submersible called Subastian, which is used by the Schmidt Ocean Institute to explore the depths of the seas. This particular diving was not looking for squid. It was a partnership with the ocean census, an initiative to discover unknown species. Since the submersible was descending, it stopped for a few minutes to photograph the transparent small siphaulod.

“I think it’s very exciting,” said Christine Hofard, a biologist at the Monterere Pay Aquarium Research Institute in California.

Dr. Hofard used other submarines that are operating remotely in her research. She said that these open exploratory tasks in the ocean are a “huge value” of science. For example, her special notes to octopus Walking bravely At the bottom of the ocean – using two arm arms, the sixth one to camouflage themselves as massacres of algae or coconut – occurred by chance. She said that the results were useful for researchers in soft robots.

Dr. Hofard said that capturing clips of marine animals that are rarely seen like a massive squid, decisions on human activities such as mining in the depths of the seas can also be informed.

She said that this will help know where these animals spend their time, as they travel to his companion or spawning, or the period in which they live. “But now we have no strong understanding of that,” she said.

Dr. Polstad said that the huge young squid in the video was swimming about 600 meters away. She said that the other deep squid spends their early lives in shallow waters. The presence of a transparent body, such as the huge young squid, may help it to swim without discovery by predators before it descends as a mysterious red creature into the ocean darker as an adult.

The submersible camera can detect the squid – immediately transfer pictures. Unlike scientists a century ago, who were forced to search for a partially digestion massacre in the belly of the whale, anyone can see “diving clothes” from the house to be part of the moment of the massive squid, according to Dr. Polstad. “To be able to participate in these exploration and discoveries, mainly in a actual time, from anywhere on this planet – this is a great thing that humans can do.”

You will continue to search for a full -growed animal. She said, “I cannot wait to find out how the massive adult squash looks at home in the depths of the seas where it belongs,” she said.

But she said that she was also happy because the first vision of the species in the wild was not from the great-levithan version, and vitality, but “the beautiful early life stage that looks like a small glass carving.”

“I really like this is the first glimpse of what will become a real giant,” said Dr. Polstad.