Rare video of a giant squid hunting its prey caught by a new camera-mounted, passive deep-sea platform that works well in the depths of the oceans, and that too without frightening off the deep-sea creatures.
While observing the giant squid in its natural habitat for the first time, marine scientists found that these deep-sea monsters first observe their prey and then attack with a fool-proof strategy.
You’d be wondering what is so special about a deep-sea creature getting caught on camera as there are plenty of videos out on the internet involving life underwater. You feel that way because you might not know that some of the living beings in the depths of the oceans are prone to lights, vibrations, or unknown sounds of any kind, running or hiding away when exposed to any of these.
Humans are not designed to bear the crushing pressures of the deep-sea or the ocean beds, hence, have had used technology for a while to study how life goes around for the sea creatures. Traditional tech came packing some features that the living beings underwater didn’t really like, and hence, used to hide when they appeared on the scene. Leaving behind the challenge for humans for their ventures on studying the life on the floors beneath our natural habitat.
With the advent of the new tech, learning more about what happens underwater has transformed at large. The tech is developed by a team of researchers led by Nathan Robinson of the Oceanographic Foundation in Spain that uses longer-wavelength red lighting that doesn’t annoy the deep-sea monsters.
Earlier technology used for studying life underwater used to scare off some of the creatures, and only managed to catch their pictures before they head towards their favorite hiding spot. The newly made passive deep-sea platform, however, comes changing the game and plays tricks on the deep-sea creatures to observe and record their behaviors that were previously not known.
Squid attacking tactics got caught for the first time aided by marine robotic technology. The new platform played the giant squid with “light wavelength tricks.” And deployed a fake jellyfish that was covered with the kind of light that doesn’t threaten the squids, rather tempts them to attack, given their visual hunters’ instincts found in the recorded video.
Upon spotting the tempting jellyfish with desirable lights, it was found that the giant-eyed monster squid first observed it silently, and then went for an attack, revealing the squid’s attacking behavior for the first time. Noteworthy is that the squids are not known to eat jellyfish, but rather it was the light that was found to be of its interest.
All-in-all, the passive deep-sea platform paid off well, as expected by the researchers. The recorded video revealed the giant squids are visual hunters and move in with a planned strategy before making an attacking move on their prey.
