First-known sighting of living Antarctic squid Gonatus antarcticus, spotted by researchers on the National Geographic and Rolex Perpetual Planet Expedition in the Southern Ocean – Credit: ROV SuBastian / Schmidt Ocean InstituteResearchers have recorded a video sighting of a three-foot-long deep-sea squid species that’s never been filmed nor seen alive.Gonatus antarcticus squid, an elusive squid found only in the frigid waters around Antarctica, was discovered on Christmas Day by the Schmidt Ocean Institute’s research vessel, the R/V Falkor (too), in a surprise moment caught on camera via the research vessel’s remotely operated vehicle, SuBastian.Prior to the astonishing discovery, the species was only known from carcasses in fishing nets or when the squids’ beaks were found in the stomach of fished marine animals.Footage of the squid shows the animal with scratches on its arms and fresh-looking sucker marks on its mantle but otherwise shows it is in good shape. Spotted at a depth of approximately 2,152 meters—below 6,000 feet—in the Weddell Sea, researchers have not been able to confirm the squid’s sex from the footage, nor age, but the discovery is a reminder of how much more there is to learn about the relatively unexplored polar regions of our world’s ocean.Undertaken through the National Geographic and Rolex Perpetual Planet...
