One hundred years after the colossal squid was identified as a new species, Scientists recorded a living copy for the first time in freedommarking a milestone in Exploration of sea depths.
During a scientific expedition made in March, a team aboard the Falkor ship of the Oceanic Institute Schmidt found the elusive creature Near the Sandwich South islandsIn the frozen depths of the southern Atlantic Ocean.
The youth squid, which measured only 30 centimeters (a small part of what can occupy), It was recorded 600 meters deep from a remote direction vehicle. His disturbing and translucent way offered an extraordinary vision of one of the most mysterious species of the ocean. “It is exciting to see the first” in situ “recording of a colossal youth … and humiliating to think that she had no idea that humans exist,” said Kat Bolstad, from the technological university of Auckland, one of the independent experts who have verified the recording.
Little is known about the life cycle of the colossal squid. The fishermen occasionally caught Morbundo adults, but no one had been observed alive at so much depth. “For 100 years we have seen them mainly as remains in the Balena stomach Sea birds, “explains Bolstad.
Experts believe they can reach seven meters in length and weigh 500 kilogramswhich makes them invertebrates heavier and the largest squid on the planet. As they mature, young people lose their transparent appearance and acquire a reddish tone. This sighting is even more remarkable for the fact of being casual. According to a spokesman for the Schmidt Ocean Institute, the team had decided to discover a new marine life, not finding and registering the colossal squid.
The team finds two new species in three months
The March expedition was not the only time the research team found organic gold in 2025. In January, the team recorded the first confirmed images of the Ice glass squid in the Authern Ocean, close to AntarcticaAnother species never seen before in its natural habitat.
According to Bolstad and Aaron Evans, another independent expert who verified the images, these Youth squid They share several similarities. Both have transparent bodies and sharp hooks at the ends of their two longer tentacles. However, unlike the colossal squid, the glacial glass lacks hooks at the center of its eight arms.
The new sighting occurred in the sea of Bellingshausenwhile scientists have studied The bottom of the sea revealed by a huge icebergApproximately the dimensions of Chicago, who detached themselves from the George VI ice platform. The resulting smoothie has revealed an ecosystem so far hiddenBy shedding light on how climate change is affecting the polar oceans and how little we know about their depths. “The first sighting of two different squid in consecutive shipments is extraordinary and shows how little we have seen of the magnificent inhabitants of the Antarctic Ocean,” said Jyotika Virmani, director of the Schmidt Oceanic Institute.
35 -day expedition The fact that he captured the images of the Colosal Calamar was part of a collaboration between the Institute, the Ocean census of the Nippon Foundation-Nekton and Gosouth, a joint project of the University of Plymouth (United Kingdom), the Geomar Helmholtz Center for Oceanic Research (Germany) and the British Antarctic Survey.
The institute’s remote control vehicle captured the first confirmed images of at least four species of squid in the wild placer included colossal squid and glacial glass squid – and another also to be verified. But his work has done nothing but start. “These unforgettable moments continue to remind us that the ocean exceeds the mysteries still to solve,” concluded Virmani.
