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Nature & Environment

Giant squid filmed hunting in very rare video

By T.K. Randall
May 17, 2021 · Comment icon 8 comments

This is one enormous cephalopod. Image Credit: YouTube / ScienceAlert
For the first time, scientists have filmed a giant squid feeding in its natural habitat in the depths of the ocean.
One of the largest and most elusive denizens of the deep, the giant squid, which can grow up to a whopping 43ft long, is usually only seen when dead specimens wash up on beaches.

Capturing footage of a live one, therefore, has long posed something of a challenge.

Now though, a research team headed up by Nathan Robinson of the Oceanographic Foundation in Spain has succeeded in capturing the first ever footage of a giant squid on the hunt.

To achieve this, they set up a special deep-sea platform with a camera and a fake jellyfish which was itself equipped with lights to mimic the natural bioluminescence emitted by resident species.
Over time, the camera picked up a number of smaller squid species, but then one day an actual giant squid with a mantle length of 1.7 meters (excluding the tentacles) showed up.

The huge creature spent several minutes swimming around, surveying the platform before deciding to come in for the kill. This suggests that giant squid may stalk their prey before attacking it.

Previously, they were believed to be ambush predators.

"We recommend that future studies assess the value of using low-light systems or optical lures in a more scientifically-robust manner," the team wrote.

You can check out the footage they captured below.



Source: Science Alert | Comments (8)




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Recent comments on this story
Comment icon #1 Posted by OverSword 4 years ago
Just watched a documentary about this in which a research vessel hosted several scientists trying different methods to attract giant squid and although the article says this: One of the ways they successfully attracted them was by grinding dead giant squid into a liquid and using it like chum so they do use olfactory probably more for mating.
Comment icon #2 Posted by joc 4 years ago
That was an awesome video...thanks for sharing!
Comment icon #3 Posted by HandsomeGorilla 4 years ago
What a great video, I'm glad I watched that I like how those doodle bug critters on the ocean floor are about the same as on land, just a thousand times the size 
Comment icon #4 Posted by Brymstone 4 years ago
First of its kind video?  Starting at 38 seconds it's the exact same video as this one from 2 years ago... Giant squid filmed in the Gulf of Mexico ( https://www.unexplained-mysteries.com/news/328649/giant-squid-filmed-in-the-gulf-of-mexico ) 6-23-2019  
Comment icon #5 Posted by Seti42 4 years ago
It's so eerie and monstrous how they just unfurl their tentacles like that. I love seeing it, from a safe distance of a few thousand miles.
Comment icon #6 Posted by Tom1200 4 years ago
Not to mention the date stamp ten seconds in says October 2013.  But hey! who cares?  It will always the first video taken of a giant squid (probably), even if it's being featured for the six hundredth time. I'm more bothered by the lack of references by which to judge the scale.  Who here would know a giant squid from frozen squid rings?1  I'm not going to say 'all squid look the same to me' in case that's racist, but...  Scientists are always banging on about the importance of evidence, so it would be nice to see some here.  Perhaps next time they could get the squid to pose with a ta... [More]
Comment icon #7 Posted by Still Waters 4 years ago
I guess you didn't look at the other link in my OP. Deep Sea Research Part I: Oceanographic Research Papers Volume 172, June 2021 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0967063721000777 It's a long read but is full of information, 
Comment icon #8 Posted by quiXilver 4 years ago
Utterly fascinating, our oceans.  They utterly dominate our wet planet and yet we humancentrists still call it Earth. Thanks for sharing.


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