Today in History—March 9: The First Footage of a Colossal Squid at Home

On this day last year, a colossal squid was caught on camera in the deep sea for the first time.

The Schmidt Ocean Institute was using a remotely operated submersible on an expedition to search for new species in the icy waters of the South Atlantic, off the Sandwich Islands, when this known-but-still-sorta-unknown species drifted into view.

It was only 100 years ago that the colossal squid was even discovered—via two arms found in the stomach of a sperm whale by a marine biologist. The species was confirmed as new that year, in 1925.

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They make their home where it’s deep, cold, dark, and remote. Only a handful have ever been seen, either snared accidentally by fishing boats or found dead on the surface, which is what makes footage of this living, swimming tentacled teenager such a sensation. The juvenile squid was about a foot long, nearly transparent, and swimming almost 2,000 feet down.

Because no one had ever seen a live colossal squid in its habitat, the researchers didn’t realize what they were looking at. A comment on their livestream first raised the possibility. The researchers quickly reached out to other institutions to confirm what they now suspected—and indeed, incredibly, they had captured the very first footage of a colossal squid in its habitat.

Sometimes called “glass squids” for obvious reasons, these squids live in the ocean’s twilight zone, a dim layer full of strange sea life. Their apparent transparency helps them sneak up on prey—while staying hidden from things that consider them prey. Hooks in the middle of their eight arms make them formidable predators. As they grow up, their bodies darken to red or purple, and they assume their place as one of the largest invertebrates in the world. One specimen hooked near Antarctica was 30 feet long!

All right, stop reading and go watch the squid below.

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