See it: Young colossal squid captured on video in its natural habitat for the first time
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Colossal squid seen in natural habitat for first time since discovery
A baby colossal squid was seen by researchers in its natural habitat for the first time since the species was discovered.
Almost a century after the colossal squid was first discovered, a juvenile was spotted and filmed in its natural habitat last month.
Crew members on board a research vessel in the South Atlantic Ocean recorded the video of the world's largest squid species on March 9, Schmidt Ocean Institute, a nonprofit organization, which operated the ship said. The 35-day mission was an Ocean Census flagship expedition searching for new marine life.
Video footage shared by the Institute shows the nearly one-foot-long juvenile squid floating at a depth of approximately 1968 feet below the waters around the South Sandwich Islands, a volcanic archipelago located between the tip of South America and Antarctica. The footage was captured by the Institute's remotely operated vehicle (ROV) SuBastian, the organization said.
Watch the video above to see the footage.
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Heaviest invertebrate on the planet
"This year is the 100-year anniversary of the identification and formal naming of the colossal squid, a member of the glass squid family (cranchiidae)," the Institute said in a news release, highlighting the significance of the sighting.
As the name suggests, fully grown colossal squid can be gigantic, growing up to 23 feet in length and weighing as much as 1100 pounds, making them the heaviest invertebrate (animals that don't have a backbone or vertebral column) on the planet, according to Schmidt Ocean Institute. However, given their elusiveness, not much is known about the mysterious sea creature's life cycle, except that they eventually lose their transparency as they age.
The Institute said while dying adults have previously been filmed by fishermen, the colossal squid have never been seen alive at depth.
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Exciting discovery
"It's exciting to see the first in situ footage of a juvenile colossal and humbling to think that they have no idea that humans exist," Kat Bolstad, a professor and researcher at the Auckland University of Technology in New Zealand, an independent scientific expert the research team consulted to verify the footage, said in a statement. "For 100 years, we have mainly encountered them as prey remains in whale and seabird stomachs and as predators of harvested toothfish."
The Schmidt Ocean Institute's ROV SuBastian has so far captured the first sightings of four species of squid, including the latest colossal squid sighting, the organization said. In January, the expedition recorded the first confirmed footage of the glacial glass squid, which was spotted in the Bellingshausen Sea near Antarctica. The footage, taken at 2254 feet, showed the transparent glacial glass squid with its arms loosely above its head, similar to the cockatoo pose commonly observed in other glass squids.
'These unforgettable moments continue to remind us that the Ocean is brimming with mysteries yet to be solved,' the institute's executive director Jyotika Virmani said in a statement.
Saman Shafiq is a trending news reporter for USA TODAY. Reach her at sshafiq@gannett.com and follow her on X and Instagram @saman_shafiq7.
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