The giant squid, or Architeuthis, is one of those creatures that until recently was shrouded in myth and legend, partially because they live in such crushing depths we’d never gotten close to them. The closest we’ve gotten is stumbling across their corpses on beaches and a few photos of live specimens.
Now NHK and the Discovery Channel have found one in its natural habitat.
We’ve captured video of the giant squid before, back in 2006, which was achieved by using a smaller squid as bait. But that was on the surface of the ocean.
This footage, shot by the same team, involved going nearly half a mile beneath the ocean to film the squid in action:
Modern-day scientists on their own Moby Dick-style search used a submersible to descend to the dark and cold depths of the northern Pacific Ocean, where at around 630 metres (2,066 feet) they managed to film a three-metre specimen. After around 100 missions, during which they spent 400 hours in the cramped submarine, the three-man crew tracked the creature from a spot some 15 kilometres (nine miles) east of Chichi island in the north Pacific.
The really fascinating thing about this is that we might finally learn more about Architeuthis. We have no idea about its reproductive cycle, and in fact it was a surprise to discover it was an aggressive feeder, instead of drifting through the waves eating poop boogers like other deep-sea “nightmares”.
It also means, since the giant squid is the inspiration for so many Kraken legends, that we can officially start making “Unleash the Kraken!” jokes again, so that’s a bonus.
For those who actually care about science, a documentary discussing the mission and showing the footage that it gathered will be airing on the Discovery Channel January 27th.
![[avatar]](http://p.uproxxcdn.com/photo/569/thumb)
![[image]](http://cdn.uproxx.com/wp-content/thumbnails/130/110/2013/05/10-reasons-why-time-travel-is-no-good-according-to-glove-and-boots-150x150.jpg)
![[image]](http://cdn.uproxx.com/wp-content/thumbnails/130/110/2013/05/feels-scroll-150x150.gif)
![[image]](http://cdn.uproxx.com/wp-content/thumbnails/130/110/2013/05/Screenshot-from-2013-05-03-084021-150x150.png)
![[image]](http://cdn.uproxx.com/wp-content/thumbnails/130/110/2013/05/boogers-150x150.jpg)
Only a 3-meter specimen? That’s hardly giant at all!
Yeah, because nine feet, that wouldn’t make you crap your pants in fear if it was coming for you.
At nine feet, its natural habitat is inside a whale’s belly.
So, basically, you take comfort in the fact that it will be eaten after it eats you, like a weird seafood turducken?
If I ever get to 630 meters below the surface of the ocean, I’ll rocket the murder-squid to the top of my Concerns List. Until then, or they figure out how to make an inverse SCUBA system, I think I’m fine.
An inverse SCUBA system, you say? Hmmmmmm.
Self Contained Out-of-water Breathing Aparatus, I guess? SCOBA?
Seafood Turducken. Dan you have no idea what you’ve just done to my menu.
Clearly no one here has seen the mid 90′s made for tv mini-series The Beast. Squid happens. Especially to sexually promiscuous fishermanwoman.
I’ve got it recorded on VHS if you’re interested.
If these damn things didn’t live so deep in the ocean, I’d never go swimming again.
That said, I’m setting my DVR for this.
Oh don’t worry! They come to the surface! All the time!
When they mate with a great white, I will make sure Dean Cain gets the call.
That’s a lot of calamari.
No, but seriously, I’d shit all over myself in fear at the sight of one. Good times.
I love that after all the dinosaurs have become extinct or evolved into birds, the largest creature to ever live on planet earth is alive right now – the blue whale. And nobody really gives a shit.
No shit, my wife had no idea that blue whales even existed. She has a college degree and was astonished that something that large is still alive today.
The blue whale is indeed a majestic and beautiful creature.
To be fair DW (can I call you DW? Probably not, sorry), I would probably have a heart attack seeing a blue whale in person. It’s amazing something that size can exist.
Even more incredulous, I was watching PBS’s Nature a few months ago – the “Duckumentary” – that said that ducks, as a species being 300 million years old, predates whales.
For every good wholesome well-intentioned religious person that looks upon atheists like me not with scorn nor derision but pity, I can only share their sentiments as I myself gaze upon them – those who sell their own species so short thinking that the majesty that is nature could only be created with whimsy by the will of an omnipotent creator.
Anatidae (ducks, swans, geese, etc. — a family, not a species) diverged from Anseranatidae (magpie geese) around 70 million years ago (i.e., slightly before the mass extinction at the end of the Mesozoic). This is based on genetic evidence (molecular clock) and some fossil evidence (the Antarctic stem-anatid Vegavis iaai — yes, that’s the correct spelling). Ducks certainly do *not* go back to 300 million years ago — at that point the ancestor of all living reptiles would have been some sort of vaguely lizard-like creature. That said, they are indeed older than whales, which didn’t evolve until after the Cenozoic.
Clarification appreciated. Clearly your ducks are all in a row.
I could care less if it’s only 9 feet – the kid in the backseat of the car at the drive-in who watched in awe as Ned Land battled the squid in “20,000 Leagues Under the Sea” is wide awake and will be watching the hell out of this when it airs.
Couldn’t. You couldn’t care less.
Yep, and I knew that. I’ll go stand in the corner, and this will be my last post of the day…
I wonder if those stories of these things attacking ships were true…
If you think about what a boat looks like from underneath, and factor in how potentially large one of these things could have grown, I think it’s definitely a possibility.
I’ve seen enough hentai to know where this is going.