A young colossal squid has been filmed in its natural habitat for the first time.
The juvenile squid, measuring just 30cm long, was filmed at a depth of 600m by an international team of scientists aboard a Schmidt Ocean Institute research vessel using a remotely operated submersible.
It was sighted on March 9 on an expedition near the South Sandwich Islands in the South Atlantic Ocean — on the 100th anniversary year of the identification and formal naming of the colossal squid.
"It’s exciting to see the first in situ footage of a juvenile colossal and humbling to think that they have no idea that humans exist," AUT's Kat Bolstad, one of the independent scientific experts consulted to verify the footage, said.
"For 100 years, we have mainly encountered them as prey remains in whale and seabird stomachs and as predators of harvested toothfish."
Estimated to grow up to seven metres in length and weighing as much as 500kg, colossal squids were the heaviest invertebrates on the planet.
Little was known about the creatures' lifecycles. Fishermen have filmed dying adults previously, but they had never been seen alive at depth.
The largest recorded colossal squid specimen was displayed in Te Papa in Wellington. The specimen was pulled from the water by a fishing boat in 2007 and was estimated to weigh 470kg. Its final length was 4.2m, but it could have been longer because the tentacles had shrunk once the squid died.
Glacial glass squid also filmed
Researchers on the Schmidt Ocean Institute voyage also captured footage of the glacial glass squid in its natural habitat.
"The first sighting of two different squids on back-to-back expeditions is remarkable and shows how little we have seen of the magnificent inhabitants of the Southern Ocean," Schmidt Ocean Institute executive director Jyotika Virmani said.
"Fortunately, we caught enough high-resolution imagery of these creatures to allow the global experts, who were not on the vessel, to identify both species."
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