Haunting sea creature spotted off California coast for first time ever

A rare squid was spotted for the first time ever in the northeast Pacific Ocean — one of only a handful of sightings of the elusive creature on record.

The bigfin squid — which has only been observed or collected about 70 times on record — was captured off the coast of California by the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute.

Reasearchers came across the enigmatic creature on Aug. 7 as it swam into view of a camera aboard their underwater vehicle nearly two miles beneath the ocean’s surface.

Olívia Soares Pereira, a postdoctoral researcher for the institute, said she thought the creature was a jellyfish at first, but then realized it was something much more rare when she saw the sea animal’s “elbow”

“I knew exactly who this was and immediately screamed ‘Magnapinna!’ before the rest of the squid even came into the screen,” she said. “It was incredibly exciting!”

Researchers added that the squid was hovering above the seafloor, undulating two large fins and trailing eight arms and two tentacles.

The crew used a laser measuring system to estimate that the squid was about 1.25 meters (4.1 feet) long from the top of the body to the ends of the arms.

Spotting the rare creature wasn’t the goal of the expedition. Researchers had set out to study seamounts — underwater mountains — off the coast of Central California, including at Sur Ridge and Davidson Seamount.

The seamounts are hot spots for biodiversity, providing habitat for corals, sponges and even an octopus garden.

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The expedition was aimed at gathering information to determine whether whales were leaving furrows in the sediment of the Davidson Seamount, about 80 miles southwest of Monterey, as they chased fish for food.

Researchers were using an underwater drone tethered to the research vessel by cables. Roughly the size of a small car, the vehicle was hovering just above the ocean floor as researchers and pilots searched for furrows potentially left behind by whales.

To help see if the furrows were the doing of the whales, researchers collected water samples to conduct environmental DNA. They will look into bits of themselves that animals shed while cruising through the ocean, Pereira said.

They also left behind hydrophones, which are meant to capture sound, and could lead them to identify the specific whale species found in the area.

Andrew DeVogelaere, a senior researcher on the expedition, said he was focused on the seafloor when the squid suddenly came into view.

“I was stunned — this is the first confirmed bigfin squid sighting in Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary and a powerful reminder of what we still have to discover in the ocean’s depths. We live next door to a magical place,” he said.

Not much is known about the squid, including its diet, how its reproduces and how it uses its tentacles.

“I’ve always been fascinated by deep-sea animals,” Pereira told the LA Times. “When I heard about the Magnapinna first, I never thought I would be seeing one one day.”