Footage of an extremely rare deep-sea squid has been captured by scientists from the University of Western Australia.
The team had been deploying cameras to the ocean floor in the Central Pacific region known as the Nova Canton, when a “deep-sea hooked squid” appeared to mistake the submersible craft for a snack.
The rare squid is renowned for having glowing “photophores” on the end of two of its arms, which can produce bright flashes to startle its prey.
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“The squid, which was about 75cm long, descended on our camera assuming it was prey, and tried to startle it with its huge bioluminescent headlights,” the team’s chief scientist Professor Heather Stewart said.
The director of the Minderoo-UWA Deep Sea Research Centre, Professor Alan Jamieson, said that seeing deep-sea squid in their natural habitat was notoriously difficult.
“Many records of this species are from strandings, accidental bycatch or from the stomach contents of whales,” he 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 mission is currently in the final weeks of a three-month expedition to the Central Pacific Ocean.
