In the permanent twilight of the mesopelagic, a silent predator hunts.
The enigmatic giant squid is rarely observed in its natural habitat. In the first videos of their kind, unveiled in 2021, marine scientists caught its hunting behavior in the wild – revealing for the first time how these monsters of the deep stalk and attack their prey.Although the crushing pressures and darkness of the oceanic depths are hostile to us air-breathing humans, we've slowly but surely been learning more about them, thanks to the wonders of robotic technology.
For giant squid, the bright lights mounted on underwater vehicles can be uncomfortable for their sensitive, low-light eyes, which can grow to the size of dinner plates; the sound and vibration can also scare off more mobile animals. And, of course, bringing giant squid to the surface won't record their behavior in their natural environment.
That's why a team of researchers led by Nathan Robinson of the Oceanographic Foundation in Spain devised a different solution: a passive deep-sea platform, equipped with a camera. Because giant squid eyes are optimized to see shorter-wavelength blue light, they used longer-wavelength red lighting that won't annoy them, in order to see the animals on video.
Finally, they added bait: a fake jellyfish, called E-jelly, equipped with lights that mimic the blue flashing bioluminescence emitted by an atolla jellyfish in distress. Although giant squid aren't known to eat jellyfish specifically, they may be attracted to the distress lights of these atolla jellyfish – they might mean that the jellyfish is under attack by something the squidAll that remained, then, was to wait.
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