https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Yz_57uadUQ
3 hours 19 minutes in.....
Now, a team of researchers has revealed the first video ever taken of this enormous predator, the colossal squid (Mesonychoteuthis hamiltoni), in its natural deep-water habitat—and managed to spot the animal in its youth. ...Colossal squids live in the deep sea near Antarctica. They can reach lengths of 23 feet and weigh at least 1,100 pounds, making them the heaviest known invertebrates. Their tentacles feature hooks that help them catch prey and defend themselves against predators, such as sperm whales. ... During the vessel’s stop near the South Sandwich Islands, the researchers deployed a remotely operated vehicle to a depth of 600 meters and livestreamed its video feed.... the expedition sent a screenshot to independent squid biologist Aaron Evans, who quickly conferred with Bolstad to vet the expedition’s high-resolution footage.
The juvenile squid displayed had pearly eyes and organs and was transparent, typical for members of the Cranchiidae family, also known as "glass squids."
He and Bolstad identified key characteristics of the colossal squid, such as hooks on its tentacles.
The baby’s iridescent eyes emit a red glow, and its tentacles gracefully tail behind its transparent body. In the surrounding murk, it almost resembles a “delicate glass sculpture,” per Bolstad. She and Aaron Evans, another glass squid expert from Auckland University of Technology, were ultimately able to confirm the squid’s identity due to the unique hooks lining the middle of its eight arms.
. Three known glass squid species are found in the Antarctic ocean, but it can be difficult to distinguish them on camera.
Researchers from the organisation Kolossal, aiming to film the colossal squid, observed a similarly sized glass squid during their fourth Antarctic mission in 2023. But since the characteristic features needed to identify a colossal squid – hooks on the ends of the two long tentacles and in the middle of each of the eight shorter arms – weren’t clearly visible, its exact identity remains unconfirmed.https://theconversation.com/a-
“We get to introduce the live colossal squid to the world as this beautiful, little, delicate animal,” Kat Bolstad, a biologist at the Auckland University of Technology who helped confirm the footage, said during a press conference earlier this week, as Science’s Erik Stokstad reports. The exciting event “highlights the magnificence of a lot of deep-sea creatures without some of that monster hype,” she added.
Scientists captured the video on March 9 while aboard a Schmidt Ocean Institute research vessel near the South Sandwich Islands in the South Atlantic Ocean. They had sent a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) into the depths and were live streaming its footage when an online viewer flagged the creature on the screen as a potential colossal squid, per New Scientist’s Sofia Quaglia. As a result, the researchers sent the video to independent squid experts, who recognized the species’ unique hooks along its arms.
https://www.smithsonianmag.Bolstad and Evans said one of the most distinguishing characteristics of colossal squid is the presence of hooks on the middle of their eight arms, which help differentiate them from G. glacialis. Otherwise juvenile colossal squid and G. glacialis are similar, with transparent bodies and sharp hooks at the end of their two longer tentacles.
At 27 centimeters across, its eyes are wider than soccer balls and the largest known in the animal kingdom. In addition to eight well-suckered arms, the squid boasts a longer pair of tentacles with hooks that can swivel 360°, probably to help it hold onto struggling prey after ambushing them in the murky depths.
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