In fact, this giant squid is still alive, which makes this encounter different from almost every time scientists find these giants. Usually, eight-legged creatures can't be seen until they are found dead. They are trapped in the deep sea fishing trawl. When they are brought to the surface, changes in pressure and temperature kill these animals, or they are damaged when they are washed ashore.
"We're talking about an animal that can grow to 14 meters (45 feet)," said Nathan Robinson, director of the La Cape Institute in Lu Se, who was part of the team that recorded the video. "(Giant squid) has attracted the imagination of countless people, but we don't know what it is like, its behavior or distribution-where you found it. This is still a mystery. We know it's outside, but we just don't know anything about it.
Robinson praised the team and e-jelly for shooting incredible shots. E-jelly was developed by Edith Widder, CEO and senior scientist of the Ocean Research and Conservation Association (ORCA). When the deep-sea jellyfish Waiweilai Atoll is threatened or attacked by predators, it will light up like a burglar alarm. Electronic jelly is a part of the whole camera system, and it is called Medusa, which imitates this flickering light in order to attract giant squid. The eight long and elegant legs of "KDSP", "KDSP" and "KDSP" spread out as the squid inspected the electronic jelly in the Gulf of Mexico. (Video screenshot, provided by Edie Widder and Nathan Robinson) "KDSP" Usually, when deep-sea submersibles or remotely operated submersibles (ROVs) dive, they scare away animals living in the dark world of the deep sea. Robinson said that this is because these machines are often noisy and give light to creatures who have never seen daylight before.
Orca's device avoids these problems by sending jellyfish attached to jelly down the mountain. Medusa can record the pictures in ultra-low light with a highly sensitive camera and digital video recorder at a depth of 1.2 miles (2 kilometers) underwater.
The combination of Medusa and e-jelly helped Vader and her colleagues to photograph the first giant squid in Japanese waters in 20 12. This time, luck came again. . . June 19, one day after the video was recorded, lightning struck.
Bad weather has also appeared, and Robinson is looking at the video, which was taken at a depth of 0/50 miles (240 kilometers) from the Louisiana coast/Kloc. Then, he saw an image of a strange tentacle reaching out to the display. The other crew members of the research ship quickly gathered around the screen. They are quite sure that this is a giant squid-a young fish 10 to 12 feet (3 to 3.7 meters) long-but they are not 100% sure. [Gallery: Stunning pictures of life under the sea]
The research team gathered around the computer to watch the lens of the giant squid. From left to right: Nathan Robinson, Sang Ke Johnson, Tracy Sutton, Nick Allen, Edie Vader and Megan mccall. (Image provided by DantéFenolio) Before the team sent the video to the squid expert, lightning struck the ship.
"It all happened during the lightning storm," Robinson told Live Science. When we were watching this video, we heard a loud noise. We ran outside, and there was a black smoke coming from the back of the boat, because our antenna really exploded. Then we ran back immediately because we were Ike, "Oh, my God, what if that blew up all our computers?"
A computer on the plane was blown up, but thankfully, it wasn't Robinson's computer. It stored videos of giant squid. If that wasn't enough, about 30 minutes later, a water tornado called the water spout threatened their boat.
The water spout can be seen from the "Diansur" on the research ship. (Image provided by Joshua Bierbaum) The storm finally ended and their Internet connection was restored. The research team sent this video to Michael Viognier, an invertebrate zoologist at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, one of the world's leading squid experts, who confirmed that it was a giant squid.
This video may be short, but scientists can learn everything about the giant squid from these rare records. This animal is the biggest-eyed animal in the animal kingdom. The researchers said that this video was taken several miles away from Abo Mattox deepwater oil drilling platform, which means that the environment of giant squid may be polluted.
"At present, we know very little about them and can't protect these animals," Robinson said. The more researchers know, the more capable they are to help protect giants. The expedition was organized by Sam Johnson, a professor of biology at Duke University in North Carolina, and funded by the Office of Marine Exploration and Research of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. You can read more about this adventure in the blog published by Johnsen and Widder.
Underwater photo: the elusive octopus "smile" shot for the camera in the photo: the strange deep-sea biological information map: the highest mountain to the deepest trench was originally published in Live Science.