Latest news with #KatBolstad
Yahoo
18-05-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Scientists Take First Ever Video of Colossal Squid in the Wild... With One Comical Issue
An international team of scientists from the Schmidt Ocean Institute have captured the first ever footage of a colossal squid — the terrors of the sea that are legendary for both their monstrous proportions and elusiveness — roaming in its natural habitat. But to say it's a big discovery might be misleading. Found lurking in the depths of the South Atlantic Ocean, the specimen is a juvenile mollusk, measuring barely a foot in length. With a transparent body, you might mistake it for some form of jellyfish at first. Mainly, it's the tiny tentacles that betray its true identity. It's no Kraken sighting, in other words. But so rare are these deep sea predators that any footage at all is invaluable. And besides, witnessing one as a baby isn't without its charm or scientific insight. "I actually love that this is our first glimpse of what will become a true giant," Kat Bolstad, a cephalopod biologist at the Auckland University of Technology who helped verify the video, told The New York Times. "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," Kat added in a statement, per NPR. The footage was captured using a remotely operated vehicle dubbed SuBastian, at a depth of around 2,000 feet in March. Researchers on the expedition sent the footage to Bolstad, who confirmed that the specimen on display was indeed the famed creature, albeit in miniature. Colossal squids inhabit the cold depths of the Antarctic seas. As adults, they can grow up to 23 feet long — and perhaps close to twice that if you measure from tip to the ends of their tentacles — and weigh around 1,100 pounds. They shouldn't be confused with giant squids, which grow to similar lengths but are slenderer and less heavy, favoring more temperate waters. The colossal squid's existence was first discovered secondhand, through their chewed-up remains found in the stomach of a sperm whale in 1925. It wasn't until 1981 that a living full adult specimen was caught accidentally by fishermen. And nearly a century on, we still have a lot to learn about these mysterious creatures, which may in fact be trying to avoid humans. "They're very aware of their surroundings, because any disturbance in the water column around them might mean a predator," Bolstad told the NYT. Fully grown colossal squids boast the largest eyes in the animal kingdom, at roughly the size of a basketball, making them extremely adept at spying both prey and predators in the dark waters they call home. Finding more won't be easy, but this discovery is an encouraging reminder that it's possible. With any luck, the next one that the team spots will live up to its behemoth reputation. "I can't wait to see what a live adult colossal squid looks like, at home in the deep sea where it belongs," Bolstad told the NYT. More on marine life: Scientists Revive Organism Found Buried at Bottom of Ocean
Yahoo
17-05-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
We've never seen footage of a colossal squid until now — and it's a baby
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. The elusive colossal squid has finally been caught on camera, an entire century after it was first discovered. A team of scientists aboard the Schmidt Ocean Institute's research vessel Falkor filmed a not-so-colossal juvenile measuring 11.8 inches (30 centimeters) long as it swam through the ocean near the South Sandwich Islands at a depth of around 1,968 feet (600 meters). The video, which was captured on March 9 in the South Atlantic Ocean by a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) named SuBastian, shows the translucent baby squid gently swimming through the abyss of the deep ocean, with its tiny tentacles dangling behind it. "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," Kat Bolstad, a squid researcher at the the Auckland University of Technology in New Zealand, who was an independent scientific expert consulted to verify the footage, said in a statement. "For 100 years, we have mainly encountered them as prey remains in whale and seabird stomachs and as predators of harvested toothfish." Colossal squid (Mesonychoteuthis hamiltoni) are bigger than even the famous giant squid (Architeuthis dux). They are considered the largest invertebrates on the planet, measuring up to 46 feet (14 m) long — as long as a semitrailer — and weighing as much as 1,100 pounds (500 kilograms). They have the largest eyes of any known animal, which can measure up to 11 inches (27 cm) across — about the size of a soccer ball. These bizarre creatures live deep beneath the Antarctic waters of the Southern Ocean. They live deeper and deeper with age, with the youngest and smallest squid being found down to about 1,640 feet (500 m), adolescents living between 1,600 and 6,600 feet (500 to 2,000 m), and fully grown adults living even deeper. This year marks 100 years since the colossal squid was formally identified and named, but in the century since, very few have ever been seen. The species was first discovered after two of its arms were found in the stomach of a sperm whale during the winter of 1924-1925. RELATED STORIES —Elusive 'octopus squid' with world's largest biological lights attacks camera in striking new video —Watch extremely rare footage of a bigfin squid 'walking' on long, spindly arms deep in the South Pacific —'She turns her siphon into a gun': Watch coconut octopus firing stones at fish in world-1st footage The new video is the first-ever live observation of this species in its natural habitat. Dying adult colossal squid have been filmed by fishermen, and the first complete specimen was captured in 2007 by a fishing vessel near Antarctica. Most of what we know about this species and its lifestyle comes from beaks found in sperm whale stomachs. Only 12 complete colossal squid specimens had ever been found as of 2015, and about half of those were juveniles. The scientists on the previous Falkor expedition in January also filmed the first-ever confirmed footage of the glacial glass squid (Galiteuthis glacialis), which had also never been observed in its natural habitat before now. "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," Jyotika Virmani, Schmidt Ocean Institute's executive director, said in the statement. "These unforgettable moments continue to remind us that the ocean is brimming with mysteries yet to be solved."
Observer
12-05-2025
- Science
- Observer
It Took a Century to Find This Colossal Squid
In March, Kat Bolstad returned from an Antarctic expedition where she had used a new camera system specially built to search for the elusive colossal squid. No one had captured footage of one of these animals swimming in the deep sea. She didn't spot one on this voyage either. On the day she left the ship, though, Bolstad, a deep sea cephalopod biologist, learned about a recent video taken March 9 from the South Sandwich Islands. A team searching for new marine life and remotely using a Schmidt Ocean Institute submersible, had happened upon a young cephalopod, and people wanted Bolstad's help identifying it. The juvenile was about 30 centimeters long (a little less than a foot), with a transparent body, delicate arms and brown spots. It was a colossal squid. 'Pretty much as soon as I saw the footage, I knew there was a good chance,' said Bolstad, a cephalopod biologist at the Auckland University of Technology in New Zealand. She consults remotely for Schmidt's Antarctic work. It's been 100 years since the colossal squid was formally described in a scientific paper. In its adult form, the animal is larger than the giant squid, or any other invertebrate on Earth, and can grow to 6 or 7 meters long, or up to 23 feet. Scientists' first good look at the species in 1925 was incomplete — just arm fragments from two squid in the belly of a sperm whale. Adults are thought to spend most of their time in the deep ocean. A full-grown colossal squid occasionally appears at the ocean's surface, drawn up to a fishing boat while it's 'chewing on' a hooked fish, Bolstad said. Younger specimens have turned up in trawl nets. Yet until now, humans had not witnessed a colossal squid at home, swimming in the deep Antarctic sea. One reason they're so elusive is the sheer size of that home. Additionally, the squid are probably avoiding us, Bolstad said. 'They're very aware of their surroundings, because any disturbance in the water column around them might mean a predator.' Sperm whales, the squid's main predator, can dive up to 2 kilometers (1.25 miles). Perhaps to help them avoid the whales, colossal squid have evolved the world's largest eyes — bigger than a basketball. They also have 'a unique combination of suckers and hooks on the arms and the tentacles,' Bolstad said, which is how she was able to confirm that the young sea creature in the new footage was a colossal squid. The footage was taken by a remotely operated submersible called SuBastian, which the Schmidt Ocean Institute uses to explore the deep sea. This particular dive was a partnership with Ocean Census, an initiative to discover unknown species. The submersible stopped for a few minutes on descent to film the small, transparent cephalopod. 'I think it's very exciting,' said Christine Huffard, a biologist at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute in California who wasn't involved in the expedition. Huffard has used other remotely operated submersibles in her research. She said these exploratory missions have 'tremendous value.' For example, her observations of octopuses walking bipedally on the ocean floor — using two arms to stroll, and the other six to possibly camouflage themselves as a clump of algae or a coconut — happened by chance. The findings have been useful to researchers in soft robotics, she said. Capturing footage of rarely seen marine animals like the colossal squid, Huffard said, can also inform decisions about human activities like deep-sea mining. She said it would help to know where these animals spend their time, where they travel to mate or spawn, or how long they live. The young colossal squid in the video was swimming around 600 meters down, Bolstad said, not in the deeper waters where adults likely dwell. Other deep-sea squids spend their early lives in shallower waters, she said. Having a transparent body may help the baby swim undetected by predators before it descends as an opaque, reddish adult to the darker ocean. A submersible's camera can detect the squid — and transmit images instantaneously. Unlike the scientists of a century ago, who had to dig through partly digested carnage in a whale's belly, anyone could watch the Schmidt 'dive-stream' from home to be part of the moment of finding the colossal squid, Bolstad said. 'To be able to participate in these explorations and discoveries, essentially in real time, from anywhere on the planet — that's an amazing thing that humans can do.' She'll continue looking for a full-grown animal. 'I can't wait to see what a live adult colossal squid looks like, at home in the deep sea where it belongs,' she said. But she said she was also glad that the first sighting of the species in the wild was not of the adult version — an enormous, hook-wielding leviathan, but 'this beautiful early life stage that looks like a little glass sculpture.' 'I actually love that this is our first glimpse of what will become a true giant,' Bolstad said. —NYT
Yahoo
01-05-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Scientists capture stunning video of colossal squid in its natural habitat: 'We could think of this ... as a teenager squid'
Viewers of a deep-sea livestream got the thrill of a lifetime when cameras captured the first confirmed video of a colossal squid in its natural habitat. As The Conversation reported, the animal was first described 100 years ago but hadn't been caught on camera until March. That happened during a live "divestream" from the Schmidt Ocean Institute and Ocean Census, where a remote-operated vehicle was searching for new species and habitats deep in the South Atlantic Ocean. The juvenile squid, nearly one foot long, was spotted roughly 2,000 feet deep in the ocean, near the South Sandwich Islands, a glacier-covered chain about 1,200 miles east of South America's southeasternmost tip. Even after the livestream, researchers had to review high-definition footage from the cameras to verify that it was, in fact, a juvenile colossal squid, part of the glass squid family. "We could think of this maybe as a teenager squid," Dr. Aaron Evans, a giant squid expert and researcher, said in an April news conference. "For us to see this kind of midrange size in between a hatchling and an adult is really exciting because it gives us the opportunity to fill in some of those missing puzzle pieces to the life history of this very mysterious animal." Researchers believe these invertebrates, the heaviest on Earth, can grow up to 23 feet long and weigh up to 1,100 pounds. Previous possible sightings could not be confirmed, as key characteristics weren't clearly visible, such as the hooks on the end of the colossal squid's two long tentacles. The sighting shows how big a role remotely operated cameras can play in ecological research. These technological advancements have allowed conservationists to discover new species or familiar species in new places. Just this year, trail cameras have spotted an echidna in Tasmania, where it was thought to be extinct; the return of bobcats to New Jersey; and thriving animal populations in a remote Asian forest. And in Vietnam, researchers have confirmed the first sighting of a silver-backed chevrotain in nearly 30 years. "Now that we have the ability to share (dives) in real time in this way and show people how beautiful the things are, how many things remain to be discovered, and that people can come along with us as we make these discoveries, I feel like our ability to appreciate the deep sea on a much wider scale is moving towards where it should have been all along," Dr. Kat Bolstad, an associate professor with New Zealand's Auckland University of Technology, said. Do you think America does a good job of protecting its natural beauty? Definitely Only in some areas No way I'm not sure Click your choice to see results and speak your mind. Join our free newsletter for good news and useful tips, and don't miss this cool list of easy ways to help yourself while helping the planet.
USA Today
18-04-2025
- Science
- USA Today
See it: Young colossal squid captured on video in its natural habitat for the first time
See it: Young colossal squid captured on video in its natural habitat for the first time Show Caption Hide Caption Colossal squid seen in natural habitat for first time since discovery A baby colossal squid was seen by researchers in its natural habitat for the first time since the species was discovered. Almost a century after the colossal squid was first discovered, a juvenile was spotted and filmed in its natural habitat last month. Crew members on board a research vessel in the South Atlantic Ocean recorded the video of the world's largest squid species on March 9, Schmidt Ocean Institute, a nonprofit organization, which operated the ship said. The 35-day mission was an Ocean Census flagship expedition searching for new marine life. Video footage shared by the Institute shows the nearly one-foot-long juvenile squid floating at a depth of approximately 1968 feet below the waters around the South Sandwich Islands, a volcanic archipelago located between the tip of South America and Antarctica. The footage was captured by the Institute's remotely operated vehicle (ROV) SuBastian, the organization said. Watch the video above to see the footage. A surprising lesson from Antarctica: Life flourishes even under 500 feet of ice Heaviest invertebrate on the planet "This year is the 100-year anniversary of the identification and formal naming of the colossal squid, a member of the glass squid family (cranchiidae)," the Institute said in a news release, highlighting the significance of the sighting. As the name suggests, fully grown colossal squid can be gigantic, growing up to 23 feet in length and weighing as much as 1100 pounds, making them the heaviest invertebrate (animals that don't have a backbone or vertebral column) on the planet, according to Schmidt Ocean Institute. However, given their elusiveness, not much is known about the mysterious sea creature's life cycle, except that they eventually lose their transparency as they age. The Institute said while dying adults have previously been filmed by fishermen, the colossal squid have never been seen alive at depth. Need a break? Play the USA TODAY Daily Crossword Puzzle Exciting discovery "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," Kat Bolstad, a professor and researcher at the Auckland University of Technology in New Zealand, an independent scientific expert the research team consulted to verify the footage, said in a statement. "For 100 years, we have mainly encountered them as prey remains in whale and seabird stomachs and as predators of harvested toothfish." The Schmidt Ocean Institute's ROV SuBastian has so far captured the first sightings of four species of squid, including the latest colossal squid sighting, the organization said. In January, the expedition recorded the first confirmed footage of the glacial glass squid, which was spotted in the Bellingshausen Sea near Antarctica. The footage, taken at 2254 feet, showed the transparent glacial glass squid with its arms loosely above its head, similar to the cockatoo pose commonly observed in other glass squids. 'These unforgettable moments continue to remind us that the Ocean is brimming with mysteries yet to be solved,' the institute's executive director Jyotika Virmani said in a statement. Saman Shafiq is a trending news reporter for USA TODAY. Reach her at sshafiq@ and follow her on X and Instagram @saman_shafiq7.
