How Can We Film Giant Squid?

These legends of the deep are notoriously shy, but researchers have recently captured images and video of living giant squid. Learn how they did it in this episode of BrainStuff.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to brain Stuff production of iHeart Radio. Hey brain Stuff,
Lauren bog Obam here. The giant squid is a carnivorous
invertebrate that weighs over four hundred and forty pounds or
two and measures around thirty three ft or ten meters long. Yes,
it can be as long as a school bus and
has eyes the size of dinner plates, along with a

(00:23):
sharp beak. In short, it's a little disconcerting. Perhaps more
disconcerting is the fact that these wild creatures, which have
rarely ever been spotted alive, have been popping up in
videos in recent years, very much alive and very very large.
Before two thousand four, they had only been found as carcasses,
washed up on beaches or captured by fishermen. So what's

(00:46):
going on under the sea is a rash of giant
squid sightings and indication that these sea giants are taking
over the waves. In a word, no, but the sightings
do indicate technology is advancing in exciting new ways. We
spoke Edith Whittard, PhD uh, the CEO and Senior scientist
of Florida's Ocean Research and Conservation Association, Incorporated. She said

(01:09):
it hasn't really been a rash of giant squid sightings.
There have only been two times that giant squid have
been filmed in the deep sea. Both times the animals
were spotted with help from a camera system and an
optical lure that wid are developed to help researchers explore
the creatures of the deep sea without scaring them away.
The camera system is called Medusa. Medusa is unlike any

(01:30):
recording device used before because it emits a red light
that's invisible to most creatures living in the midnight zone.
That's the expanse of pitch black water about three thousand,
three hundred feet or a thousand meters below the ocean surface.
Then there's the optical lure and electronic jellyfish that accompanies
Medusa down below the waves to help draw creatures towards

(01:50):
the camera with an innovative method that takes inspiration from
animals natural cues called an e jelly wid are explained.
The e jelly image hates the bioluminescent burglar alarm display
of a common deep sea jellyfish. Bioluminescent burglar alarms are
like a scream for help using light. Their last ditch
effort of prey that are caught in the clutches of

(02:11):
a predator to attract the attention of a bigger predator
that may attack their attacker and thereby afford them an
opportunity for escape. Until just fifteen years ago, the only
facts known about giants squid were gathered from their massive
dead bodies, since live ones had never been seen. Then,
in two thousand four, the first live images of a
giant squid were captured, and the first video of a

(02:34):
giant squid emerged thanks to Medusa capturing a specimen swimming
off of Japan's Okasawara Archipelago. It wasn't until June of
twenty nineteen that another Medusa shot giant squid video came
to light, this time of a roughly ten foot long
that's three meters young swimmer in US waters around the
e Gulf of Mexico. June twenty nineteen marked the fifth

(02:55):
deployment of Medusa on this particular expedition, and when Winter
and her team examined the video, they saw undeniable footage
of a long, tentacled creature reaching out for the e jelly.
It's hard to tell exactly how big it was because
it was heading straight towards the camera. All these years
of underwater chasing begs the question why are these animals
so camera shy in the first place? Witter said, the

(03:18):
giant squid has been elusive because our standard methods of exploration,
using platforms with bright lights and noisy thrusters, has been
scaring it away. The only reason we even knew giant
squid existed is because they happen to float when they die.
So dead and dying specimens have been seen in photographed
at the surface. How many other animals are there living
in the deep sea that we don't know about because

(03:38):
we've been scaring them away and they don't happen to
float when they die, A good and perhaps even more
disconcerting question. Indeed. Today's episode was written by Michelle Constantonowsky
and produced by Tyler Clang. Brain Stuff is a production
of I Heeart Radio's How Stuff Works. For more in
this and lots of other mysterious topics, visit our home

(04:00):
planet how Stuffworks dot com and for more podcasts from
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or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. H