The bigfin squid (Magnapinna) is the deepest-sea squid species known to science. (Photo credit: Centre for Deep Sea Research, University of Western Australia)
Data from cameras on the floor of the Tonga Trench in the South Pacific Ocean has captured rare moments with the bigfin squid, which has slender limbs several feet long, as seen in a new video.
Magnapinna squids are an extremely elusive species of cephalopod that also includes octopuses and cuttlefish. There have only been about a dozen recorded sightings of the species. They are the deepest-sea squid known to science, existing at depths of more than 20,000 feet (6,100 meters), according to the Ocean Conservancy.
The new footage was taken 10,800 feet (3,300 m) below the ocean floor. The researchers accidentally discovered the squid during their exploration of the trench and say it was a lucky find.
“We always hope to see animals like this,” Alan Jamieson, a professor and deep-sea ecosystem researcher at the University of Western Australia who captured the footage, told Live Science in an email. “[Large-fin squid] are not creatures you would go looking for, they’re a species that’s waiting for us to stumble upon them,” Jamieson added.
Most reported sightings of big-finned squid come from “random footage from oil and gas facilities,” Jamieson said.
The squid captured in the new video was likely feeding or trying to find food, he said. The footage shows the strange creature slowly moving along the seabed, then suddenly stopping and pulsating the large fins that are attached to its body. Although the squid appears to be pulling something off-camera, it is likely simply trying to pry its sticky tentacles off the seabed, Jamieson explained.
The researchers estimated that the squid's body length was between 8 and 12 inches (20 and 30 centimeters). Its limbs extended several times that length and looked “grossly disproportionate,” Jamieson added. Scientists estimate that the giant fin squid could reach lengths of up to 26 feet (8 meters), including its limbs.
Why the bigfin squid evolved such long, spindly limbs remains a mystery, Jamieson said, but it likely has to do with its feeding habits. The bigfin squid is the only known squid that lives at depths between 19,700 and 36,000 feet (6,000 and 11,000 m) —
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