California Post<\/a>.<\/p>\nOl\u00edvia Soares Pereira, a postdoctoral researcher for the institute, said she thought the creature was a jellyfish at first, but then realised it was something much more rare when she saw the sea animal\u2019s \u201celbow\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI knew exactly who this was and immediately screamed \u2018Magnapinna!\u2019 before the rest of the squid even came into the screen,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt was incredibly exciting!\u201d<\/p>\n
Researchers added that the squid was hovering above the sea floor, undulating two large fins and trailing eight arms and two tentacles.<\/p>\n
The crew used a laser measuring system to estimate that the squid was about 1.25 meters (4.1 feet) long from the top of the body to the ends of the arms.<\/p>\n
Spotting the rare creature wasn\u2019t the goal of the expedition. <\/p>\n
Researchers had set out to study seamounts \u2014 underwater mountains \u2014 off the coast of Central California, including at Sur Ridge and Davidson Seamount.<\/p>\n
The seamounts are hot spots for biodiversity, providing habitat for corals, sponges and even an octopus garden.<\/p>\n
The expedition was aimed at gathering information to determine whether whales were leaving furrows in the sediment of the Davidson Seamount, about 80 miles southwest of Monterey, as they chased fish for food.<\/p>\n
Researchers were using an underwater drone tethered to the research vessel by cables. Roughly the size of a small car, the vehicle was hovering just above the ocean floor as researchers and pilots searched for furrows potentially left behind by whales.<\/p>\n
To help see if the furrows were the doing of the whales, researchers collected water samples to conduct environmental DNA. <\/p>\n
They will look into bits of themselves that animals shed while cruising through the ocean, Pereira said.<\/p>\n
They also left behind hydrophones, which are meant to capture sound, and could lead them to identify the specific whale species found in the area.<\/p>\n
Andrew DeVogelaere, a senior researcher on the expedition, said he was focused on the sea floor when the squid suddenly came into view.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was stunned \u2014 this is the first confirmed bigfin squid sighting in Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary and a powerful reminder of what we still have to discover in the ocean\u2019s depths. We live next door to a magical place,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Not much is known about the squid, including its diet, how its reproduces and how it uses its tentacles.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve always been fascinated by deep-sea animals,\u201d Pereira told the LA Times. <\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I heard about the Magnapinna first, I never thought I would be seeing one day.\u201d<\/p>\n
This article originally appeared on the California Post <\/a>and was reproduced here with permission<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A rare squid was spotted for the first time ever in the northeast Pacific Ocean \u2014 one of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":882585,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[451770,451731,451752,451751,419730,451754,378023,451743,451768,451787,451785,451724,451779,451741,451771,451734,451733,451781,451732,1313,64,205086,63,11808,229550,118667,485,451764,89179,451749,451748,398694,451761,382180,451744,8168,451747,451720,62925,451726,419098,451729,9392,451763,451774,451775,242645,451739,451738,307881,407495,27791,124700,451776,8050,10445,451780,451786,128,451760,145683,52397,23013,451735,4220,451773,451766,451782,245970,451730,379753,450100,451758,451759,451757,451755,451725,451745,451778,376549,451737,385807,451721,451728,451762,451784,451740,391689,451756,451746,451767,378229,378030,451769,451727,451750,451777,451765,377466,379314,421600,451783,451736,378816,451772,451723,26847,451753,451742,18204,451722,338],"class_list":["post-882584","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-underwater-mountains","tag-creature","tag-s-elbow","tag-s-depths","tag-s-surface","tag-4-1-feet","tag-a-camera","tag-a-jellyfish","tag-a-laser","tag-a-magical-place","tag-a-postdoctoral-researcher","tag-a-powerful-reminder","tag-a-rare-squid","tag-a-senior-researcher","tag-a-small-car","tag-about-1-25-meters","tag-about-70-times","tag-about-80-miles-southwest","tag-an-underwater-drone","tag-animals","tag-au","tag-august-7","tag-australia","tag-biodiversity","tag-bits","tag-cables","tag-california","tag-central-california","tag-corals","tag-deep-sea-animals","tag-eight-arms","tag-environmental-dna","tag-even-an-octopus-garden-the-expedition","tag-exactly-who","tag-first-ever-pacific-ocean-sighting","tag-fish","tag-food-researchers","tag-furrows","tag-habitat","tag-haunting","tag-hot-spots","tag-hydrophones","tag-information","tag-its-diet","tag-its-tentacles","tag-magnapinna","tag-monterey","tag-monterey-bay-national-marine-sanctuary","tag-nearly-two-miles","tag-one-day","tag-only-a-handful","tag-pereira","tag-rare","tag-rare-deep-sea-bigfin-squid","tag-record","tag-researchers","tag-researchers-and-pilots","tag-roughly-the-size","tag-science","tag-seamounts","tag-sightings","tag-sound","tag-sponges","tag-sur-ridge-and-davidson-seamount-the-seamounts","tag-system","tag-the-area-andrew-devogelaere","tag-the-arms-spotting","tag-the-bigfin-squid","tag-the-body","tag-the-california-post","tag-the-coast","tag-the-creature","tag-the-davidson-seamount","tag-the-doing","tag-the-elusive-creature","tag-the-ends","tag-the-enigmatic-creature","tag-the-expedition","tag-the-first-confirmed-bigfin-squid-sighting","tag-the-first-time","tag-the-furrows","tag-the-goal","tag-the-institute","tag-the-la-times","tag-the-magnapinna-first","tag-the-monterey-bay-aquarium-research-institute-researchers","tag-the-northeast-pacific-ocean-one","tag-the-ocean","tag-the-ocean-floor","tag-the-rare-creature","tag-the-research-vessel","tag-the-rest","tag-the-screen","tag-the-sea-animal","tag-the-sea-floor","tag-the-sediment","tag-the-specific-whale-species","tag-the-squid","tag-the-top","tag-the-vehicle","tag-the-whales","tag-thecalifornia-post-olivia-soares-pereira","tag-their-underwater-vehicle","tag-this-article","tag-two-large-fins","tag-two-tentacles-the-crew","tag-view","tag-water-samples","tag-whale-tracks","tag-whales","tag-whales-to","tag-wildlife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/882584","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=882584"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/882584\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/882585"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=882584"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=882584"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=882584"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}