Deep-Sea Squid Caught on Camera for the First Time

By Staff, Agencies

Australian scientists have published a video of a bigfin squid [Magnapinna], one of the most difficult-to-find creatures in the world.

The animal with "large fins and strikingly long arm and tentacle filaments" that can reach a length of over 8 meters [26 feet] permanently dwells in the dark depths of the ocean and has been spotted only about a dozen times.

 "These sightings, the first from Australian waters, have bolstered the hypothesis of a cosmopolitan distribution, and indicated a locally clustered distribution with squid being found in close spatial and temporal proximity of each other", the scientists wrote in their paper.

Bigfin squids live in the bathypelagic zone, between 1,000 and 4,000 meters [3,280 and 13,120 feet] deep. Only with the help of remotely operated vehicles and a towed camera system deployed at a depth of 946–3258 meters [3,103-10,688 feet], were the scientists able to spot the creature five times.

The survey was conducted in March 2017 as part of a large-scale research of waters off Australia's southern coast.