The Creepy Deep Sea Bigfin Squid

The bigfin squid (Magnapinna) has rarely been seen or captured on camera, most often on surveillance cameras trained on deep sea oil-drilling operations. An adult bigfin can have tentacles up to eight meters (26 feet) long! But one was recently captured on camera in the Tonga Trench east of Fiji in the Pacific Ocean, the second-deepest ocean trench in the world. A team from the Minderoo-UWA Deep-Sea Research Centre and Inkfish are exploring the Tonga Trench, and caught a glimpse of a bigfin with a remote camera sent to a dept of 3,300 meters (10,827 feet) with a fish as bait. The bigfin walks in from the darkness, using its tentacles as legs against the ocean floor. It's about a half-minute in before you can see it. It doesn't take the bait, instead straightening up before fleeing, as if something spooked the squid. Researchers believe this specimen is a juvenile, as its "legs" are only around 13 feet long. (via Damn Interesting)