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Scientists Are Freaking Out Over The First-Ever Footage of This Bizarre Squid
https://www.sciencealert.com ^ | CARLY CASSELLA 29 OCTOBER 2020

Posted on 10/29/2020 7:55:37 AM PDT by Red Badger

Ram's horn shells are small, delicate spiral structures beachcombers can commonly find throughout the world.

Yet despite their ubiquity, the original owners of these shells are extremely elusive. Until now, we've never had footage of a single one in the wild.

In the twilight zone of our oceans, at the tips of sunlight's fingers, a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) has now delivered the first footage of a ram's horn squid (Spirula spirula) in its natural habitat.

This strange-looking cephalopod is a wee little thing barely 7 centimetres (under 3 inches) in length, with eight arms, two tentacles, a pair of bulging eyes, and a general muppet-like appearance.

In its tail-end, hidden beneath its mantle, is a tightly-coiled internal shell equipped with chambers of gas that the animal manipulates for buoyancy.

At first, researchers operating the ROV at the Schmidt Ocean Institute had no idea what they were looking at.

"What on Earth?" a scientist can be heard exclaiming in the background of the video, which was shot live on the Great Barrier Reef at a depth of roughly 850 to 860 metres (2,790 ft).

The rare sighting has since been shared online and confirmed to be the first footage of a live Spirula in the deep sea, the largest and least explored habitat on our planet.

While there are numerous deep-sea species never before seen in their natural waters, this recent chance encounter has got scientists especially excited.

VIDEOS AT LINK...................

The ram's horn squid is rarely seen in the wild, and it's one of the most unusual cephalopods out there.

Apart from cuttlefish, it's the only other known mollusc that contains an internal chambered shell to keep it buoyant. Yet unlike cuttlefish, this squid's skeleton is tightly coiled; molluscs in the Nautilus genus also have similarly-shaped shells, but they go on the outside of the animal.

"I've been looking for these for a long time," zoologist Michael Vecchione, who studies midwater squid at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, told ScienceAlert.

"I have no question at all it's a Spirula."

While Vecchione regularly catches this species from the deep, sometimes housing them in aquariums, he's never before seen footage of the squid in its natural habitat.

Neither has Neige Pascal, who studies Spirula at the University of Burgundy in France. He told ScienceAlert the video is "very exciting".

Apart from the sheer rarity of this encounter, there's one particularly surprising aspect in the footage: the very position of the animal, with its head and tentacles floating upright, and its fins pointing down.

"Are we completely sure about the orientation of the shoot? If this is the case, this is a king of revolution," Pascal told ScienceAlert.

"A lot of people are freaking out because the head is up," adds Vecchione.

"And the reason they're freaking out is because the shell with its buoyancy is at the other end of the squid. So you'd think the head, which is heavier, would be hanging down."

When put in an aquarium, this is actually how the squid orients. Its head faces down and its tentacles face up - so the species was thought to take the same position in the deep sea.

(Ewald Rübsamen/Public Domain)

According to Vecchione, however, there's a problem with that assumption. Ram's horn squid also have a light-generating organ, known as a photophore, which is located near the buoyant shell.

This means if Spirula are hanging with their head down, that light would be facing upwards, and that's highly unusual for deep-sea animals.

In the twilight zone of our oceans, predators often have their eyes looking up in the hopes of glimpsing the silhouette of a possible meal. Hence photophores help disguise prey in the deep sea by washing out their silhouettes with light. If that lamp is pointing upwards, that organ isn't nearly as useful.

There's a lot we still don't know about Spirula, including how the species reproduces and where it lays its eggs, but the way this squid orients itself in the water is one of the biggest questions for Vecchione.

While he can't be sure it floats with its tentacles always facing upwards, he says the footage is good evidence the squid does this at least part of the time. We'll need more observations to solve that mystery.

And the curiosities surrounding the ram's horn squid don't end there. When the creature at last dashed away in the video, it looks as though a bit of ink spilled into the water; Vecchione is pretty sure that came from the squid - a possible diversion tactic for its escape.

Possible inking from Spirula spirula. (Schmidt Ocean Institute/YouTube)

==================================================================== "That's interesting because Spirula has the mechanism to make ink but it's reduced in this species, like other deep-sea species," Vecchione told ScienceAlert.

"But this suggests it's functional and they're using it for defence."

It might be our first time spotting a ram's horn squid in its natural habitat, but it's also their first time in the face of a leering ROV. Fair enough if they wet themselves.


TOPICS: History; Outdoors; Pets/Animals; Science
KEYWORDS: cryptobiology; godsgravesglyphs; ramshornsquid; spirulaspirula
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1 posted on 10/29/2020 7:55:37 AM PDT by Red Badger
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To: Red Badger

Scientists these days, sheesh......


2 posted on 10/29/2020 7:56:34 AM PDT by cranked
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To: cranked

Maybe it’s a baby Nautilus!....................


3 posted on 10/29/2020 7:59:08 AM PDT by Red Badger (Sine Q-Anon.....................very............)
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To: Red Badger

4 posted on 10/29/2020 8:00:15 AM PDT by DoodleBob (Gravity's waiting period is about 9.8 m/s^2)
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To: Red Badger

A video of “scientists freaking out” would be more interesting.


5 posted on 10/29/2020 8:02:35 AM PDT by Williams (Stop Tolerating The Intolerant)
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To: Red Badger

Get the oil hot and breakout the marinara sauce


6 posted on 10/29/2020 8:04:22 AM PDT by V_TWIN (Where's Hunter???)
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To: Williams

https://i.gifer.com/1Tmx.mp4


7 posted on 10/29/2020 8:06:38 AM PDT by Red Badger (Sine Q-Anon.....................very............)
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To: V_TWIN

It’s only an inch long!.........................


8 posted on 10/29/2020 8:08:08 AM PDT by Red Badger (Sine Q-Anon.....................very............)
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To: Red Badger

They have an eye on the window pane that is causing the freak out. Heavy man.


9 posted on 10/29/2020 8:09:31 AM PDT by Lurkina.n.Learnin (With age comes wisdom or well practiced ignorance)
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To: Lurkina.n.Learnin

https://i.gifer.com/1Tmx.mp4


10 posted on 10/29/2020 8:10:17 AM PDT by Red Badger (Sine Q-Anon.....................very............)
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To: Red Badger
So is most calamari I eat......just need to find the school!
11 posted on 10/29/2020 8:13:34 AM PDT by V_TWIN (Where's Hunter???)
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To: Red Badger

LOL. That’s them.


12 posted on 10/29/2020 8:16:12 AM PDT by Lurkina.n.Learnin (With age comes wisdom or well practiced ignorance)
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To: Red Badger

Engineers and engineer-wannabe’s...Put on your Thinking Caps!
What kind of propulsion systems or mobile devices could be designed based on
this Sea Squid?


13 posted on 10/29/2020 8:26:31 AM PDT by lee martell
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To: Red Badger

I’m pretty sure I ate a bowl full of those when I was in Korea.


14 posted on 10/29/2020 8:29:07 AM PDT by Joe 6-pack (Qui me amat, amat et canem meum.)
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To: Joe 6-pack

Just one?....................


15 posted on 10/29/2020 8:36:00 AM PDT by Red Badger (Sine Q-Anon.....................very............)
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To: lee martell

16 posted on 10/29/2020 8:37:47 AM PDT by Red Badger (Sine Q-Anon.....................very............)
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To: Red Badger

Not the kind of thing you want to go back to for seconds :-)


17 posted on 10/29/2020 8:41:46 AM PDT by Joe 6-pack (Qui me amat, amat et canem meum.)
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To: StayAt HomeMother; Ernest_at_the_Beach; 1ofmanyfree; 21twelve; 24Karet; 2ndDivisionVet; 31R1O; ...
Thanks Red Badger. Cryptocritter ping.

18 posted on 10/29/2020 9:42:24 AM PDT by SunkenCiv (Imagine an imaginary menagerie manager imagining managing an imaginary menagerie.)
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To: Red Badger

Squid are people too ya know!


19 posted on 10/29/2020 3:16:37 PM PDT by Squidpup ("Fight the Good Fight of Faith")
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To: SunkenCiv


Arr, squiddy, I got nothin' against ya. I just heard there was gold in yer belly. Ha ha Harr, Harr Harr!
20 posted on 10/29/2020 3:18:36 PM PDT by Trillian
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