{"id":766918,"date":"2026-09-11T05:10:13","date_gmt":"2026-09-11T05:10:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/766918\/"},"modified":"2026-09-11T05:10:13","modified_gmt":"2026-09-11T05:10:13","slug":"bizarre-deep-sea-squid-captured-on-video-for-first-time-off-california-coast","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/766918\/","title":{"rendered":"Bizarre deep-sea squid captured on video for first time off California coast"},"content":{"rendered":"

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An elusive deep-sea squid<\/a> has been filmed in a rare encounter off the coast of California<\/a>, marking the first time the species has been spotted in the northeastern Pacific<\/a> region.<\/p>\n

Scientists aboard the research vessel David Packard were studying seamounts<\/a> near the California<\/a> coast and sent a remotely operated vehicle to survey the seafloor. That\u2019s when they found the deep-sea bigfin squid<\/a>, Magnapinna sp, about 3,277m below the surface. <\/p>\n

The squid was hovering above the seafloor, with its characteristic<\/a> pair of large fins, eight trailing arms, and two tentacles. <\/p>\n

Researchers estimated the squid<\/a> at about 1.25m long from the top of the body to the ends of the arms.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was sitting right next to the screens in the control room when I saw what looked like tentacles coming into the top corner of the video,\u201d Ol\u00edvia Soares Pereira, a researcher from the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought it might be a cool jelly, but as soon as the little \u2018elbows\u2019 appeared, I knew exactly who this was and immediately screamed \u2018Magnapinna!\u2019 before the rest of the squid even came into the screen.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"DeepseaDeepsea bigfin squid spotted off the California coast (MBARI)<\/p>\n

The expedition was meant to use diverse technologies to better understand ocean life on underwater mountains called seamounts, which can deflect currents and concentrate nutrients to support life on their rocky slopes.<\/p>\n

Researchers particularly probed the Davidson Seamount, about 130km southwest of Monterey, California, which was already known to feature lush gardens of deep-sea corals that supported a bustling deep-sea octopus nursery. <\/p>\n

They sought to determine if mysterious furrows on the muddy seafloor near the mount were created by beaked whales.<\/p>\n

\"ScientistsScientists were surveying the seafloor near Davidson Seamount when they caught a fleeting glimpse of a bigfin squid (Ol\u00edvia Soares Pereira\/MBARI)<\/p>\n

\u201cI was focused on the seafloor and all of a sudden an elegant creature with undulating, angel-like \u2018wings\u2019 swam into my view,\u201d ecologist Andrew DeVogelaere from the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary, said. \u201cI was stunned.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cThis 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,\u201d Dr DeVogelaere added. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe live next door to a magical place.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dr Pereira said that the finding was particularly significant as only about 70 bigfin squid had ever been observed or collected before. \u201cEach sighting is such a privilege and highlights the incredible diversity of life that thrives in the unknown deep underwater and needs our protection.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Your support helps us to tell the story From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":766919,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[90,56,54,55,4407],"class_list":["post-766918","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-science","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom","tag-wildlife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/766918","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=766918"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/766918\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/766919"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=766918"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=766918"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=766918"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}