A rare deep-sea squid has been captured on video at a depth of more than a kilometre underwater, by scientists from The University of Western Australia and Kelpie Geosciences in the UK.
A team from the Minderoo-UWA Deep Sea Research Centre and chief scientist Heather Stewart, from Kelpie Geosciences UK and an adjunct at UWA, captured the footage when they were deploying free-fall baited cameras north of an area known as the Samoan Passage.
After the camera was retrieved from a deployment of more than 5km deep, researchers realised an animal rarely seen in its natural habitat had been captured on video.
At a depth of just over 1km, a deep-sea hooked squid called Taningia danaecaught up with the lander as it was sinking to seafloor at 58 metres per minute.
“As we were reviewing the footage, we realised we had captured something very rare,” Associate Professor Stewart said.
The deep-sea hooked squid is one of the largest deep-water squid and is renowned for having two very large photophores on the end of two of its arms, which produce bright bioluminescent flashes to startle and disorientate prey when hunting.
A team from the Minderoo-UWA Deep Sea Research Centre and chief scientist Heather Stewart, from Kelpie Geosciences UK and an adjunct at UWA, captured the footage when they were deploying free-fall baited cameras north of an area known as the Samoan Passage.
After the camera was retrieved from a deployment of more than 5km deep, researchers realised an animal rarely seen in its natural habitat had been captured on video.
At a depth of just over 1km, a deep-sea hooked squid called Taningia danaecaught up with the lander as it was sinking to seafloor at 58 metres per minute.
“As we were reviewing the footage, we realised we had captured something very rare,” Associate Professor Stewart said.
The deep-sea hooked squid is one of the largest deep-water squid and is renowned for having two very large photophores on the end of two of its arms, which produce bright bioluminescent flashes to startle and disorientate prey when hunting.
These are the largest known photophores in the natural world.
“The squid, which was about 75cm long, descended on our camera assuming it was prey, and tried to startle it with is huge bioluminescent headlights,” Associate Professor Stewart said.
“It then proceeded to wrap its arms around one of other cameras which in turn captured the encounter in even greater detail. I think we were very lucky to have witnessed this.”
Professor Alan Jamieson, director of the Minderoo-UWA Deep Sea Research Centre, said observing deep-sea squid in their natural habitat, especially in the mid-water, was notoriously challenging.
“Many records of this species are from strandings, accidental bycatch or from the stomach contents of whales,” Professor Jamieson said.
“The rarity of live observations of these amazing animals makes every encounter valuable in gathering information on geographic locations, depth, and behaviour, plus it is such a unique animal that we hardly ever get to see, so we had to share it.”
The research ship RV Dagon is currently in the final few weeks of a three-month expedition, supported by Inkfish, to the Nova Canton Trough located in the Central Pacific Ocean.
“The squid, which was about 75cm long, descended on our camera assuming it was prey, and tried to startle it with is huge bioluminescent headlights,” Associate Professor Stewart said.
“It then proceeded to wrap its arms around one of other cameras which in turn captured the encounter in even greater detail. I think we were very lucky to have witnessed this.”
Professor Alan Jamieson, director of the Minderoo-UWA Deep Sea Research Centre, said observing deep-sea squid in their natural habitat, especially in the mid-water, was notoriously challenging.
“Many records of this species are from strandings, accidental bycatch or from the stomach contents of whales,” Professor Jamieson said.
“The rarity of live observations of these amazing animals makes every encounter valuable in gathering information on geographic locations, depth, and behaviour, plus it is such a unique animal that we hardly ever get to see, so we had to share it.”
The research ship RV Dagon is currently in the final few weeks of a three-month expedition, supported by Inkfish, to the Nova Canton Trough located in the Central Pacific Ocean.
The mission is to explore and document the biodiversity and geodiversity of the seafloor at depths between three and eight kilometres.
Rare footage of a deep-sea hooked squid in its natural habitat was captured earlier this month by a team of scientists in the South Pacific.Bright bioluminescent lights, which are used to startle its prey, could be seen at the end of two of the squid's arms.
Watch: The Dana squid flashes its lights - at normal speed and in slow motion
The Dana squid has all the tools of a top ocean predator, including a pair of brilliant "headlights" it flashes at the moment it goes in for the kill.
They are intended to dazzle the prey, to make the victim freeze for those few moments longer until it can be captured in a death embrace.
Scientists have just filmed this rare squid in full attack mode, on a research cruise in the central Pacific.
It was about 1,000m below the surface, where conditions are near pitch black.
Those headlights, on the ends of two of its arms, are more properly called photophores - organs that react a mix of substances with oxygen to emit light. It is a classic example of bioluminescence.
And the 2m (6ft 6in) Dana squid (Taningia danae) is thought to have the biggest photophores in the animal kingdom - roughly the size of lemons.
"Most of our knowledge about this large squid comes from strandings, when they've been washed up on the shore, or when they've been accidentally trawled," Prof Alan Jamieson, from the University of Western Australia (UWA), told BBC News.
"We also get to examine squid retrieved from the stomach contents of whales.
"All this can tell you about squid biology - but it doesn't tell you much about their day-to-day existence, which is why it's amazing to see them alive at the exact depth at which they operate."
The Dana squid latches on to the baited frame as it falls through the water column
The video was filmed by free-fall cameras attached to a baited frame, a simple but effective device scientists drop overboard to investigate what is living at great depth.
The bait was a piece of mackerel flesh.
And although it is impossible to tell from the video, the cameras are falling at nearly 60m per minute when the squid attacks, showing how quickly it can move.
The video was filmed by free-fall cameras attached to a baited frame, a simple but effective device scientists drop overboard to investigate what is living at great depth.
The bait was a piece of mackerel flesh.
And although it is impossible to tell from the video, the cameras are falling at nearly 60m per minute when the squid attacks, showing how quickly it can move.
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