[ad_1]
He looks like an alien – the head eclipsed by huge flapping fins, the body sinking in dark water, slender blue tentacles sinking behind him in a tangle of neon spaghetti. But despite its appearance from another world, the elusive cephalopod known simply as the Bigfin squid (Magnapinnidae) may be more Earththe deep oceans that scientists never knew.
In the 113 years since its discovery, the Bigfin squid has only been spotted in the wild 12 times around the world. Now, a study published Wednesday, November 11 in the journal PLOS ONE, adds five new sightings to the tally, all captured thousands of feet below the surface of the Great Australian Bight in South Australia.
Not only do the sightings mark the first time Bigfin squids have been seen in Australian waters, but it is also the first time that five of them have been caught together in one location. The resulting images – captured by underwater cameras dragging behind a large research vessel – offer an unprecedented look at the anatomy and behavior of the bizarre cephalopod, study lead author Deborah Osterhage told Live Science.
Related: 8 crazy facts about octopus
“I was stunned and excited when I first saw the Bigfin squid in a photo taken by our camera,” said Osterhage, a marine researcher with the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization ( or CSIRO, the Australian government’s science agency), in an email. “I recognized him immediately, with his distinctive large fins and extremely long, slender arms and tentacles.”
Scientists have identified the first specimen of Bigfin squid, which was caught by fishermen near Portugal, in 1907. It took more than 80 years before anyone saw one in the wild, swimming 15,535 feet (4,735 meters). ) underwater off the coast of Brazil in 1988. The squid is distinct, with giant fins protruding from its body like Dumbo’s elephant ears. These fins are as wide as the squid’s upper body (or mantle) is long, Osterhage said, and the Bigfins propel themselves through the water, flapping them like wings.
This is nothing new to cephalopods (just ask the adorable named Dumbo octopus), but what really sets the Bigfin squid apart from its other deep-sea cousins are the incredibly long and stringy tentacles. Now researchers have a better idea of how long and how long they can get. In the new study, which culminates after more than 40 hours of underwater sightings at depths of 3,100 to 7,900 feet (950 to 2,400 m) below the surface, the team not only spotted the herd of Bigfins swimming through bay, but they even measured one of them with more precise methods than ever before.
“We were able to measure [one specimen] with lasers – a first, because previous measurements are estimates based on nearby objects, ”Osterhage said. It was 5.9 feet (1.8 m) in length. The specimen’s mantle measured approximately six inches, the remaining 5.9 feet [1.8 m] composed of those long arms and tentacles. “
Think, an upper body as long as an American dollar bill, behind tentacles as long as American tennis champion Serena Williams. And it can even be small; According to Osterhage, previous studies have estimated that the Bigfin squid can reach 22 feet (7 m) in length.
Perhaps even stranger is the way the squids hold these tentacles. Unlike most cephalopods, whose tentacles hang below their bodies, the Bigfin squid’s appendages protrude at angles perpendicular to their coats before bending and coiling, causing each tentacle to resemble an “elbow,” Osterhage said.
During one of the team’s sightings, a Bigfin surprised the researchers by raising a long arm above its body and holding it there – a bewildering behavior never seen in squid, the researchers wrote. The posture might have something to do with filter feeding, they speculated, but the truth is, no one knows for sure. Finding the answer to this (and many other unfinished bizarre squid questions) will require a lot more encounters in the wild.
“There is a lot to be learned about the Bigfin squid – basic questions such as what it feeds on, how it reproduces, etc., are still unknown,” Osterhage said. “But an exciting thing about our article is that the five specimens were found grouped in close spatial and temporal proximity to each other, which has never been seen before.”
Why they were grouped together is another unanswered question, but this behavior is often associated with survival or mating opportunities, Says Osterhage. Future observations will help determine the squid’s specific needs, she added – but for now, it may be safer to say that aliens from a feather (or tentacle) stick together. .
Originally posted on Live Science.
[ad_2]
Source link