Latest news with #colossalsquid
ABC News
09-06-2025
- Science
- ABC News
Video of Antarctic sea floor damage by anchors a warning to tourism sector
Matthew Mulrennan was trying to find and film the elusive colossal squid in Antarctica when his underwater footage revealed something worrying in the deep. The footage revealed a sea floor scoured of life with "deep grooves" that suggested damage by anchor chains. "You could clearly see this delineation between where there was abundant marine life and where the chain and anchor had disrupted the sea floor," Mr Mulrennan said. It is the first video evidence of environmental damage in the sensitive polar region, Mr Mulrennan and colleagues report today in the Frontiers in Conservation Science. An estimated 4,000 species live on the Antarctic sea floor, with around 90 per cent unique to the southern continent's waters. Mr Mulrennan said most visitors might go there for the penguins, seals and whales, but the region's biodiversity was more like an iceberg. "Almost all of it is underwater," he said. "[The] animals that are there are very vulnerable. Some grow to extreme years of age including giant volcano sponges, which we found right next to the anchor damage." Mr Mulrennan, a marine scientist and founder of not-for-profit conservation group Kolossal, was on a tourist ship visiting Antarctica in 2023 when he took the footage. Concerned about what he saw, he contacted marine geophysicist and anchor chain damage researcher Sally Watson from the New Zealand National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research. Dr Watson confirmed the linear grooves and harsh gouges, recorded in the popular destination Yankee Harbour next to an Antarctic island, were consistent with damage caused by anchors and their chains. Mr Mulrennan and Dr Watson said the findings raised concerns about anchoring by research and fishing vessels, as well as a growing tourism industry in Antarctica. They said more regulation and collecting of anchoring data was needed ahead of a projected quadrupling of tourists to 452,000 people a year visiting Antarctica by 2033–34. Anchors can be metres wide, and crush the living things they land on, but it's the chain connecting the anchor to the ship that often does the most damage as it drags laterally across the sea bed. Many Antarctic seabed animals grow slowly in the same place over centuries, making them vulnerable to chains. Dr Watson said anchor chains probably had the second biggest impact to the sea floor after trawling by commercial fishers. Research into anchor impacts is growing in places such as the Great Barrier Reef and other tropical reef environments but Dr Watson said there was a "big gaping hole" in Antarctica. Mr Mulrennan surveyed 36 sites around the Antarctic Peninsula, and anchoring damage was only found at the Yankee Harbour site. Dr Watson wasn't able to access voluntary anchoring data kept by the International Association of Antarctica Tour Operators (IAATO), so she used ship tracking data to estimate anchoring activity instead. Eight vessels likely used their anchors in Yankee Harbour during the month Mr Mulrennan surveyed the area. Dr Watson estimated a minimum of 1,600 metres of seabed would be affected if each vessel anchored in water 30–40 metres deep. This figure does not consider the damage from the chain dragging side to side if the ships moved. Social scientist Elizabeth Leane of the University of Tasmania, who was not involved with the study, said there were sites more popular than Yankee Harbour that hadn't been surveyed. Professor Leane, whose work focuses on Antarctic tourism, noted Cuverville Island and Neko Harbour received more visits than Yankee Harbour. Lisa Kelley, the executive director of IAATO, said the group welcomed "research into all forms of human activity in Antarctica". "We acknowledge that this study represents a snapshot in time," Ms Kelley said."The insights provided will be shared with IAATO's relevant committees and working groups to support our ongoing commitment to safe and environmentally responsible operations in the Antarctic region." Greg Mortimer, who founded the Antarctic tour company Aurora Expeditions, said operators had become more aware of potential damage caused by anchors since the 2000s. He said tourist ships were able to visit Antarctica based on their impacts being less than minor or transitory. "If that's not the case, further action is needed," Mr Mortimer said. He said the "missing link" was knowing how much damage was being done and its significance. Dr Watson said collecting more data on anchoring, as well as surveys of marine life, will be crucial to planning sea-floor-safe Antarctic tourism. Mr Mulrennan said ships at times already operated safely in Antarctica without using an anchor. When sea ice is high, vessels cannot get to water shallow enough to drop anchor and rely on dynamic positioning systems — where a vessel uses its own propulsion — to stay put. Dr Watson said she recognised it wasn't possible to get rid of anchoring entirely. "I want to be really clear about the difference between anchoring when you have a storm, and you're trying to protect the people and ship, compared to cruising up to a harbour and dropping anchor willy-nilly," she said. In areas of high destruction, Mr Mulrennan suggested operators could agree on "parking lot areas" where all visiting ships anchor or that moorings be created in high traffic zones. Parking lots were a "sound idea" according to Mr Mortimer, who said most ships anchored in the same place anyway. However, he believes moorings would be vulnerable to Antarctica's extreme weather and iceberg damage. Professor Leane said she was hopeful tour operators would take the research on board and come up with solutions. "[Tourist operators] don't want a damaged environment as people are increasingly interested in seeing the undersea environment," she said.
Yahoo
18-05-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Scientists Take First Ever Video of Colossal Squid in the Wild... With One Comical Issue
An international team of scientists from the Schmidt Ocean Institute have captured the first ever footage of a colossal squid — the terrors of the sea that are legendary for both their monstrous proportions and elusiveness — roaming in its natural habitat. But to say it's a big discovery might be misleading. Found lurking in the depths of the South Atlantic Ocean, the specimen is a juvenile mollusk, measuring barely a foot in length. With a transparent body, you might mistake it for some form of jellyfish at first. Mainly, it's the tiny tentacles that betray its true identity. It's no Kraken sighting, in other words. But so rare are these deep sea predators that any footage at all is invaluable. And besides, witnessing one as a baby isn't without its charm or scientific insight. "I actually love that this is our first glimpse of what will become a true giant," Kat Bolstad, a cephalopod biologist at the Auckland University of Technology who helped verify the video, told The New York Times. "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 added in a statement, per NPR. The footage was captured using a remotely operated vehicle dubbed SuBastian, at a depth of around 2,000 feet in March. Researchers on the expedition sent the footage to Bolstad, who confirmed that the specimen on display was indeed the famed creature, albeit in miniature. Colossal squids inhabit the cold depths of the Antarctic seas. As adults, they can grow up to 23 feet long — and perhaps close to twice that if you measure from tip to the ends of their tentacles — and weigh around 1,100 pounds. They shouldn't be confused with giant squids, which grow to similar lengths but are slenderer and less heavy, favoring more temperate waters. The colossal squid's existence was first discovered secondhand, through their chewed-up remains found in the stomach of a sperm whale in 1925. It wasn't until 1981 that a living full adult specimen was caught accidentally by fishermen. And nearly a century on, we still have a lot to learn about these mysterious creatures, which may in fact be trying to avoid humans. "They're very aware of their surroundings, because any disturbance in the water column around them might mean a predator," Bolstad told the NYT. Fully grown colossal squids boast the largest eyes in the animal kingdom, at roughly the size of a basketball, making them extremely adept at spying both prey and predators in the dark waters they call home. Finding more won't be easy, but this discovery is an encouraging reminder that it's possible. With any luck, the next one that the team spots will live up to its behemoth reputation. "I can't wait to see what a live adult colossal squid looks like, at home in the deep sea where it belongs," Bolstad told the NYT. More on marine life: Scientists Revive Organism Found Buried at Bottom of Ocean
Yahoo
17-05-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
We've never seen footage of a colossal squid until now — and it's a baby
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. The elusive colossal squid has finally been caught on camera, an entire century after it was first discovered. A team of scientists aboard the Schmidt Ocean Institute's research vessel Falkor filmed a not-so-colossal juvenile measuring 11.8 inches (30 centimeters) long as it swam through the ocean near the South Sandwich Islands at a depth of around 1,968 feet (600 meters). The video, which was captured on March 9 in the South Atlantic Ocean by a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) named SuBastian, shows the translucent baby squid gently swimming through the abyss of the deep ocean, with its tiny tentacles dangling behind it. "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 squid researcher at the the Auckland University of Technology in New Zealand, who was an independent scientific expert 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." Colossal squid (Mesonychoteuthis hamiltoni) are bigger than even the famous giant squid (Architeuthis dux). They are considered the largest invertebrates on the planet, measuring up to 46 feet (14 m) long — as long as a semitrailer — and weighing as much as 1,100 pounds (500 kilograms). They have the largest eyes of any known animal, which can measure up to 11 inches (27 cm) across — about the size of a soccer ball. These bizarre creatures live deep beneath the Antarctic waters of the Southern Ocean. They live deeper and deeper with age, with the youngest and smallest squid being found down to about 1,640 feet (500 m), adolescents living between 1,600 and 6,600 feet (500 to 2,000 m), and fully grown adults living even deeper. This year marks 100 years since the colossal squid was formally identified and named, but in the century since, very few have ever been seen. The species was first discovered after two of its arms were found in the stomach of a sperm whale during the winter of 1924-1925. RELATED STORIES —Elusive 'octopus squid' with world's largest biological lights attacks camera in striking new video —Watch extremely rare footage of a bigfin squid 'walking' on long, spindly arms deep in the South Pacific —'She turns her siphon into a gun': Watch coconut octopus firing stones at fish in world-1st footage The new video is the first-ever live observation of this species in its natural habitat. Dying adult colossal squid have been filmed by fishermen, and the first complete specimen was captured in 2007 by a fishing vessel near Antarctica. Most of what we know about this species and its lifestyle comes from beaks found in sperm whale stomachs. Only 12 complete colossal squid specimens had ever been found as of 2015, and about half of those were juveniles. The scientists on the previous Falkor expedition in January also filmed the first-ever confirmed footage of the glacial glass squid (Galiteuthis glacialis), which had also never been observed in its natural habitat before now. "The first sighting of two different squids on back-to-back expeditions is remarkable and shows how little we have seen of the magnificent inhabitants of the Southern Ocean," Jyotika Virmani, Schmidt Ocean Institute's executive director, said in the statement. "These unforgettable moments continue to remind us that the ocean is brimming with mysteries yet to be solved."
