Watch as rare deep-sea creature mistakes underwater camera for prey. ‘Very lucky’
Scientists in the South Pacific Ocean attached some bait to an underwater camera and dropped it over the side of their research vessel. As the contraption sank, a rare deep-sea creature mistook it for a meal. A video shows the “very lucky” encounter.
A team of researchers with the Minderoo-University of Western Australia Deep Sea Research Centre was exploring the depths of the Pacific Ocean in an ongoing three-month expedition on the RV Dagon, the university said in a May 16 news release.
As part of the project, researchers dropped baited cameras and allowed them to sink to a depth of roughly 16,400 feet. They then pulled up the contraption and watched the footage.
“As we were reviewing the footage, we realised we had captured something very rare,” the expedition’s chief scientist Heather Stewart said in the release.
Video footage shared by the university on X, formerly Twitter, shows a reddish-orange squid approach the camera, grab it and then swim away.
“The squid, which was about 75cm (or about 29 inches) long, descended on our camera assuming it was prey, and tried to startle it with (its) huge bioluminescent headlights,” Stewart said. “It then proceeded to wrap its arms around one of other cameras which in turn captured the encounter in even greater detail.”
Scientists identified the animal as a deep-sea hooked squid, or Taningia danae.
Deep-sea hooked squid are “one of the largest deep-water squid” species and known for the “two very large photophores” on its arms, the university said.
“It is such a unique animal that we hardly ever get to see,” Alan Jamieson, director of the research center, said in the release. Most deep-sea hooked squid sightings are “from strandings, accidental bycatch or from the stomach contents of whales.”
Seeing this squid in its natural habitat is “notoriously challenging,” Jamieson said.
“I think we were very lucky to have witnessed this,” Stewart said.
The deep-sea hooked squid sighting occurred in the South Pacific Ocean at a depth of over 3,300 feet, the university said.
This story was originally published May 16, 2024 at 2:43 PM with the headline "Watch as rare deep-sea creature mistakes underwater camera for prey. ‘Very lucky’."
