If you’re even a casual marine life aficionado, you realize that there’s no consensus that space is actually the last frontier.
The world’s oceans hold many similar secrets in their depths, tucked safely out of sight, and even though we’ve lived with these bodies of waters for millennia, we may never uncover them all.
Image Credit: Public Domain
We know that giant squids exist – there have been sightings, drawings, and the like for centuries – but here in the States, we’ve never had one show up on our shores.
The first modern look at these giant cephalopods was back in 2004, in Japanese waters, and then again around the same spot in 2014.
Image Credit: Wikipedia/Stephane Martin
This time, though, NOAA researchers on an exploratory mission in the Gulf of Mexico captured a recording of a juvenile swimming in the waters there.
The video is brief, and like all underwater happenings, a bit eerie. The squid swims straight at the camera, which makes it hard to tell exactly how large it is, though researchers are estimating around 10-12 feet.
Image Credit: YouTube
An adult of the species could grow up to around 43 feet in length – the same as around seven adult American men.
The marine biologists are hoping the squid will come back and they’ll be able to get more footage. Their ROV that captured the encounter, the Medusa, doesn’t use the bright lights that others do in the depths, which could make the squid feel more comfortable.
Here’s hoping we get to see more soon!
As long as I’m watching from a distance, I’m here for it.
If there was one undiscovered or rare creature to be found in the depths, what would you want it to be?
I mean, the obvious answer is mermaids, but…what would you want it to be?
