Mollusks, features and articles | Educational Science

Aug 27, 2013

Photos of the Stunning Deep-Sea Squid Feeding

Grimalditeuthis bonplandi (Image credit: © 2013 Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute)Grimalditeuthis bonplandi lives between 1,600 and 5,00 feet (500 and 1,500 meters) below the sea surface. Grimalditeuthis bonplandi , close-up (Image credit: © 2013 Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute)Researchers have previously only studied the squid based on dead, often mangled...

May 25, 2016

School-Bus-Size Giant Squid May Be Lurking Deep in the Sea

Steeped in mystery, the elusive, deep-sea-dwelling giant squid, with eyes the size of basketballs, may be larger than it has gotten credit for. In fact, the monster cephalopod may grow to be longer than a school bus, researchers say. Specimens recognizable as giant squid (Architeuthis dux) have been found washed...

Aug 16, 2016

Googly-Eyed Purple Squid Sighting Delights Scientists

A purple squid with eyes so googly it could easily be mistaken for a character in the movie Finding Nemo was recently spotted by scientists off the coast of Southern California. The so-called stubby squid (Rossia pacifica) is a species of bobtail squid native to the northern Pacific Ocean. These...

Sep 22, 2016

Creepy Cannibals: Squid Have No Qualms About Eating Their Own Kind

The deep-sea diving Gonatus squid has a hearty appetite, even when it comes to eating its own kind, a new study finds. The cannibalism finding came about during a 20-year study (1995–2015) in which marine researchers used a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) to study and video-record the eating habits of...

Feb 13, 2017

Squid Survives Ocean's 'Twilight Zone' Thanks to Its Mismatched Eyes

As its name implies, the cockeyed squid has some peculiar peepers: One is small and black, and the other is exceptionally large and yellow. Now, scientists think they know the reason for the squid's wonky eyes: They help the squid spy on prey and predators in the ocean's so-called twilight...

Apr 5, 2017

Video Captures Surprise Squid Attack — on Another Squid

A marine expedition exploring life in the deep sea near Australia recently captured footage of an incredible scene: a squid's sneak attack on a smaller squid. The two animals appeared on camera seemingly out of nowhere during the ship's video observation of a baited line. A squid that swiftly swam...

Apr 20, 2018

This Contorted Mystery Squid May Be the 'Most Bizarre' Ever Seen

There's a challenge for you — what is THAT? Unusual deep-sea creatures seen for the first time can sometimes stump even a seasoned expert in marine biology. And in a recent video of an ocean dive in the Gulf of Mexico, an expert's off-camera exclamation revealed his surprised response to...

Aug 27, 2018

Divers Find Enormous, Creepy Squid on New Zealand Beach

Divers visiting New Zealand's south coast of Wellington were looking for a nice spot to go spearfishing Saturday morning (Aug. 25) when they spotted one of the ocean's most impressive creatures of the deep: a dead, but fully intact, giant squid. After we went for a dive we went back...

Jun 25, 2019

Giant Squid Filmed Alive for Second Time in History. Here's the Video.

For only the second time in history, researchers have recorded footage of a live — and very curious — giant squid in the pitch-dark depths of its salty, deep-sea home. The short film, recorded in the Gulf of Mexico on June 18, shows the giant squid (Architeuthis) approach the faintly...

Jul 22, 2019

This Bloated 'Piglet Squid' Is Way Cuter Than a Real Piglet

Marine scientists have released a stunning video of a strange critter, the piglet squid, floating along with its tentacles waving above its head in the central Pacific Ocean near Palmyra Atoll. They spotted the squid about 4,544 feet (1,385 meters) below the ocean surface, while aboard the exploration vehicle (E/V)...

Oct 28, 2019

Human-Size Blob Drifts by Divers. And It's Packed with Hundreds of Thousands of Baby Squid.

A trio of divers off the western coast of Norway had a close encounter with a drifting gelatinous blob — a squid's egg sac as big as an adult human. A video captured and shared on YouTube on Oct. 6 by Ronald Raasch, a diver with the Norwegian research vessel...

Jun 17, 2020

Stunningly intact giant squid washes ashore in South Africa

When a giant squid washed ashore on a South African beach, one woman's first instinct was to save its life. At first, I just wanted to get it back into the ocean, Adéle Grosse, of Cape Town, told Live Science in an email. [But] on closer observation, one could see...

Oct 30, 2020

Elusive squid seen alive in natural habitat for first time (VIDEO)

Scientists have captured rare footage of a teeny, tiny squid swimming near the Great Barrier Reef; the squid is the only living member of its genus and has never before been observed alive and in its natural habitat. Researchers were all surprised to see this squid as it was nothing...

Nov 11, 2020

Rare squid with 'elbow' tentacles baffles scientists in spooky new footage

It looks like an alien — head dwarfed by enormous flapping fins, body blobbing through dark water, thin blue tentacles streaming behind it in a tangle of neon spaghetti. But despite its otherworldly appearance, the elusive cephalopod known simply as the Bigfin squid (Magnapinnidae) may be more common in Earth's...

Mar 26, 2021

Vampire squid ancestor died in 'eternal embrace' with its dinner

About 180 million years ago, an eight-armed predator seized its underwater prey — another eight-armed beastie — and began to nibble on it, until disaster struck and they both died from suffocation, a new study finds. The shale slab holding this duo's fossilized remains preserved imprints of their soft tissues...