A Giant squid with an eye as big as your head was filmed live and in its own habitat for the first time during a deep sea expedition. According to the Daily Press on Saturday, Jan. 26, 2013, the giant squid dead carcasses that have washed ashore over the years were the only sightings of this giant sea creature until the Discovery Channel expedition caught the giant squid in live footage.
Video: Check out the giant squid video here or at the bottom right of this article.
This “deep sea monster," which has been talked about for centuries, was never captured alive on film before and the footage that the Discovery Channel collected is breath taking. According to Michelle Miller, who reports on this Discovery Channel’s expedition, these giant squid grow in lengths that would rival a two to four story house. The researcher who headed the expedition that captured this footage is interviewed in the video and she reports the squid has an eye "as big as your head."
Using a submergible camera in a clear plastic bubble, the ocean researcher set out to do something different to lure a giant squid into the camera’s scope. At 2,000 feet below the ocean's surface, the researcher saw success when the giant squid came into view of the camera. At one point the giant tentacles of the sea creature reached out in what looked like an attempt to devour the clear plastic bubble, which contained the camera.
Edie Widder recently told NPR that she did something different to lure the giant squid to her camera, starting with making the camera and the technology used to operate the device quite. Usually the traditional submergible used for deep sea filming have thrusters going and are fit with bright lights. Widder said, “any animal with any sense is going to get away from that.”
Widder also did not use dead bait, but she used an optical lure to mimic bioluminescence, which is the natural light produced by living organisms. She calls the round clear bubble capsule that gives off this light an "electronic jellyfish." This strategy worked and the giant 26-foot squid was captured in some magnificent live footage.
The Discovery Channel’s giant squid expedition and the footage captured of this sea creature will air on the Discovery Channel as part of its Curiosity series Sunday night, Jan. 27, 2013. Check your local listings for the time in airs in your area.
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