A team of scientists from the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI) has filmed for the first time the deep-sea squid Grimalditeuthis bonplandi in its native habitat, at depths of 1,000 – 2,000 m.
Most squid have eight arms and two longer feeding tentacles. The tips of the tentacles, which are often broader and armed with suckers or hooks, are known as clubs. Such squids hunt by rapidly extending their tentacles and then grabbing prey with their clubs. The squids also use the tentacles to carry captured prey to their mouths.
The deep-sea squid Grimalditeuthis bonplandi seems to use a very different feeding strategy.
Using remotely operated vehicles, the MBARI scientists were able to study how these squids behave in their native habitat, about 1 mile below the ocean surface. Their findings appear in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B.
When the vehicles first approached, most of the squids were hanging motionless in the water with their eight arms spread wide and their two long, thin tentacles dangling below. What intrigued the researchers was that the Grimalditeuthis bonplandi‘s tentacles did not move on their own, but were propelled by fluttering and flapping motions of thin, fin-like membranes on the clubs. The clubs appeared to swim on their own, with the tentacles trailing behind.
Marine Biologists Capture First Footage of Deep-Sea Squid Grimalditeuthis bonplandi
No comments:
Post a Comment