Giant Squid Finally Captured on Video in Natural Habitat

An expedition team led by Edith Witters in waters south of Japan have finally videoed a Giant Squid in its deep water habitat. Discovery Channel and Japan's NHK were aboard the research vessel and captured every moment.



Full Size Image

For a sense of scale, that eyeball is the size of a human head.










www.npr.org...

www.nature.com...

The team leader, Edith Witters, has been studying bioluminescence for many years and thought that using bioluminescence as "squid bait" may yield results. Indeed, she was right. I heard an interview with her on NPR this morning and that's what prompted me to post this thread.

It sounds like Discovery Channel will be airing all of the dramatic footage, in black and white AND COLOR!!! sometime very soon. I don't have the air date yet... I using a terrible hotspot with my ipad at the moment and its kinda hard to navigate the web right now. It's taken me forever just to get this barebones post put together. I trust the ATS community can fill in the gaps for me.

Edit to add: One of the things discussed in the NPR interview with Edith Witters was how the Giant Squid didn't look like they'd expect. She said that unlike the red colored squid and tentacles that have washed up on the shore, this living specimen was metallic silver with hints of gold.

In my non-expert opinion, maybe the red color has to do with oxidation once the dead specimens wash up on shore and are exposed to air. Or maybe some other sort of biochemical reaction takes place after death (in the water or not) that changes the color to the red we are used to.

Either way, the coloring of this living Giant Squid in the deep is very impressive. Who'd have thought they would look so cool! Cant wait to see the full motion video.

Looking forward to the Discovery Channel special (even though they will screw it all up).

It was about time we captured video evidence of this colossal beauty of the deep, and Friend of Cthulhu.

One of my friends was the Captain on the research vessel...I've been hearing a little bit about the trip through his family.

Cool! I love squid!!
Bioluminescence.. that was a topic on "Ted talks" show.

This almost makes up for all those 'search for the [insert creature Pinke will never see]' documentaries I've watched over the last many years.

Now they just need to find me:

* A sasquatch
* A dinosaur or lochness monster
* A frozen cave person
* The spear of destiny or an alien
* A faery, leprichaun or gnome

I will accept two of the above items as compensation. I expect them to be presented in an exciting documentary that actually ends with them finding the freaking creature!

That is not a squid, that is a humongous alien. If it ever figures out how to walk we are gonna be nothing but a food source..... His cousin can already walk!

Walking Octopus

The reports say this Giant Squid was only about 30ft. Possibly a juvenile? Either way, 30ft is still pretty big. Now that they know how to bait and lure them in, maybe we'll see some larger ones or other unknown variants of these Giant Squids.

Anybody find a date for Discovery Channel's airing of this footage yet? I haven't found it yet...

Originally posted by Heliophant
The reports say this Giant Squid was only about 30ft. Possibly a juvenile? Either way, 30ft is still pretty big. Now that they know how to bait and lure them in, maybe we'll see some larger ones or other unknown variants of these Giant Squids.

It was apparently missing its longest set of arms.

Catch and release I hope.

reply to post by fishmaster



'Twas only an underwater photo shoot. No Giant Squid was harmed in the filming of this video.

One word...fabulous.

reply to post by Heliophant


It comes out tomorrow, the 27th, at 8pm EST. They should have a lot more footage on the show than the little snippets they have leaked so far.

reply to post by deathlord


Oh, i thought it was at 10pm EST? Maybe it originally said CST in which it would be 8 EST still but im still pretty pumped for the special!

reply to post by ConspiracySquid7


I was going off memory, but I just double checked the Discovery website and it is indeed at 8pm EST. I'm looking forward to it as well, I remember watching the last special in '05-'06 when they caught pictures of one. This should be a million times better for sure.

reply to post by deathlord


Yep it's on tonight and the show is called curiosity.

Peace

reply to post by Heliophant


Thanks for posting that! There has been footage of a giant squid already, but it was just a "flyby" so to speak. Not as beautifully detailed as we can see here.

Really looking forward to see the video of that. Those are impressive creatures!

reply to post by Nightaudit


I may be wrong,but wasnt it the colossal squid that was so elusive or is that
just another name for the giant squid?



Nevermind just googled it. They are different. So i thought the colossal squid is what all the hype was about, and i thought we already knew quite a bit about the giant squid?

reply to post by Lichter daraus


yeah- -I'm pretty sure you're right. Several giant squid bodies have been found and carefully examined, but there is still a lot we don't know.

Pictures and video have also been taken of colossal squid a few years ago. Hears a small article about it.
www.livescience.com...

reply to post by Batan


No, the Colossal squid is a seperate species of squid and also have its own genus (Mesonychoteuthis) that is found in the more colder northern parts of the oceans and the largest squid according to mass.
en.wikipedia.org...

The giant squid is the largest squid by size and found in the warmer parts of the ocean while belonging int he genus (Architeuthis).
en.wikipedia.org...

Sorrry, just a huge giant squid and colossal squid fan so had to elaborate a bit on both of these amazing animals.