First-ever footage of colossal squid captured in remote South Atlantic

Pictures from Schmidt Ocean Institute

A deep-sea robot has captured the world’s first confirmed footage of a colossal squid alive in the wild.

The young squid is about 30 centimeters long and was filmed 600 meters down in the South Atlantic.

Researchers used a remotely operated vehicle called SuBastian to capture the moment.

Dr Kat Bolstad is one of the independent scientific experts the team consulted to verify the footage.

She said: “They were looking in a relatively understudied region, the deep sea around the South Sandwich Islands.

“They happened to catch footage of this animal. They were not specifically targeting the colossal squid, they were looking to see what deep-sea animals were around and as their ROV SuBastian descended through the water column, they glimpsed this small glass squid and they knew that it was an interesting squid. They stopped and filmed it for a few minutes and then proceeded on with the rest of their dive.”

The colossal squid is rarely seen but it can grow to seven meters and weigh as much as 500 kilos – that’s as heavy as a polar bear – making them the heaviest invertebrate on the planet.

Dr. Kat Bolstad says it’s hoped new technology would allow to film larger individuals.

This year marks a century since the species was officially named and the expedition is part of a global effort called Ocean Census, which searches for new marine life.

The Schmidt Ocean Institute said its robot has now filmed at least four squid species alive for the first time.

Dr Kat Bolstad said: “I really love that we have seen a young colossal squid first. This animal is so beautiful.

“It helps us to shine a bit of a light on the animal without some of that monster frenzy hype that we may get when we eventually do see a large colossal squid.

“That said, a lot of us would still really love to see the large version, the adult version.”