• Email Us: [email protected]
  • Contact Us: +1 718 874 1545
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Medical Market Report

  • Home
  • All Reports
  • About Us
  • Contact Us

“Mystery” Glass Squid In Antarctica Could Be First Ever Colossal Squid Baby Filmed

May 29, 2024 by Deborah Bloomfield

The colossal squid (Mesonychoteuthis hamiltoni) is one of the ocean’s biggest mysteries. There are no photographs and no footage of a living colossal squid in its natural habitat. What we do know about this ocean beast is learnt from the few specimens that have been found in fishing nets or washed up on beaches. 

Advertisement

An international research team has come up with the ambitious plan to find and study the colossal squid in its natural home by 2025, the 100-year anniversary of the discovery of the species. Between December 2022 and March 2023, the team traveled to Antarctica four times to attempt to find the colossal squid. They used a polar tourism vessel called the Ocean Endeavor fitted with a deep-sea camera system that could be lowered to a maximum depth of 400 meters (1,312 feet).

Advertisement

The colossal squid is thought to measure 14 meters (46 feet) and weighs at least 500 kilograms (1,100 pounds). It is a multiple world record holder, taking the title for the world’s largest invertebrate (in terms of weight at least). This elusive species is thought to live in the deep sea in the Southern Ocean surrounding Antarctica.

While the team did not manage to find an adult, they have captured footage of a glass squid that measures 10-12 centimeters (3.9-4.7 inches). This footage is currently under analysis and could show either an unknown species, an adult Galiteuthis glacialis squid, or the first footage of a small juvenile colossal squid ever recorded. It appears at 2 minutes 33 seconds in the below video. 



“The colossal squid is an oversized poster species for how little we know about the ocean,” said Matt Mulrennan, Marine Scientist, the leader of the four 2022-2023 expeditions and Founder/CEO of non-profit Kolossal, in a statement sent to IFLScience. 

Advertisement

Glass squids are scientifically known as the family Cranchiidae, to which both the colossal squid and the Galiteuthis glacialis species belong. These are the only known Cranchidae that live in these Antarctic conditions. 

“The two known Cranchiidae taxa seen in the Antarctic are Galiteuthis glacialis and Mesonychoteuthis hamiltoni. The squid seen here could belong to different life stages of either of those taxa – and is an exciting example of wild cranchiid behavior, as I cannot think of existing video footage of either of those squid in their natural environment,” said Dr Aaron Evans, who studies the Cranchiidae family and has been peer reviewing the footage.

The footage shows large amounts of marine snow, which is organic matter falling into the deep ocean; this obscures the view of the mystery squid as it appears.

“Identification of glass squids from footage can be tricky; some species have unique combinations of visible features, but other groups of species look similar enough that it’s very hard to confirm who they are from images alone,” said Dr Kat Bolstad of Auckland University of Technology (AUT), who is an expert on the colossal squid and has also been reviewing the footage.

Advertisement

As well as the squid footage, the team filmed a whole range of other deep-sea creatures – more than 80 different species, including giant volcano sponges, Antarctic sunflower stars, and multiple species of tunicates, soft corals, siphonophores, and crinoids. 

Very large white cylindrical sponge. Three crinoids are at the top and a small pin fish is at the bottom.

Giant volcano sponges are thought to be among the world’s oldest living animals, estimated to live for up to 15,000 years.

Image credit: © KOLOSSAL / MULRENNAN

“This glass squid observation adds to the 100 years of mystery surrounding the search for the colossal squid, as the true identification may ultimately never be settled. But during these exciting expeditions we also engaged many people – from students to retirees – about the spirit of ocean exploration and we found that Antarctica’s remote watery depths are alive, unique, and worthy of protection,” concluded Mulrennan. 

Deborah Bloomfield
Deborah Bloomfield

Related posts:

  1. Dollar weakens after U.S. payrolls miss
  2. Europe’s rights watchdog tells Poland to change definition of rape
  3. Max Q: Blue Origin puts safety in the backseat, workers claim
  4. NASA Brings Back Actual Sample Of Asteroid But Can’t Open The Lid

Source Link: "Mystery" Glass Squid In Antarctica Could Be First Ever Colossal Squid Baby Filmed

Filed Under: News

Primary Sidebar

  • The First Neolithic Self-Portrait? Stony Human Face Emerges In 12,000-Year-Old Ruins At Karahan Tepe
  • Women Are Diagnosed With ADHD 5 Years Later Than Men, Even With Worse Symptoms
  • What Is Cryptozoology? We Explore The History And Mystery Of This Controversial Field
  • The Universe’s “Red Sky Paradox” Just Got Darker: Most Stars Might Never Host Observers
  • Uranus And Neptune May Not Be “Ice Giants” But The Solar System’s First “Rocky Giants”
  • COVID-19 Can Alter Sperm And Affect Brain Development In Offspring, Causing Anxious Behavior
  • Why Do Spiders’ Legs Curl Up Like That When They’re Dead?
  • “Dead Men’s Fingers” Might Just Be The Strangest Fruit On The Planet
  • The South Atlantic’s Giant Weak Spot In The Earth’s Magnetic Field Is Growing
  • Nearly Half A Century After Being Lost, “Zombie Satellite” LES-1 Began Sending Signals To Earth
  • Extinct In the Wild, An Incredibly Rare Spix’s Macaw Chick Hatches In New Hope For Species
  • HUNTR/X Or Giant Squid? Following Alien Claims, We Asked Scientists What They Would Like Interstellar Object 3I/ATLAS To Be
  • Flat-Earthers Proved Wrong Using A Security Camera And A Garage
  • Earth Breaches Its First Climate Tipping Point: We’re Moving Into A World Without Coral Reefs
  • Cheese Caves, A Proposal, And Chance: How Scientists Ended Up Watching Fungi Evolve In Real Time
  • Lab-Grown 3D Embryo Models Make Their Own Blood In Regenerative Medicine Breakthrough
  • Humans’ Hidden “Sixth Sense” To Be Mapped Following $14.2 Million Prize – What Is Interoception?
  • Purple Earth Hypothesis: Our Planet Was Not Blue And Green Over 2.4 Billion Years Ago
  • Hippos Hung Around In Europe 80,000 Years Later Than We Thought
  • Officially Gone: Slender-Billed Curlew, Once-Widespread Migratory Bird, Declared Extinct By IUCN
  • Business
  • Health
  • News
  • Science
  • Technology
  • +1 718 874 1545
  • +91 78878 22626
  • [email protected]
Office Address
Prudour Pvt. Ltd. 420 Lexington Avenue Suite 300 New York City, NY 10170.

Powered by Prudour Network

Copyrights © 2025 · Medical Market Report. All Rights Reserved.

Go to mobile version