Scientists have documented a behavior in the deep-sea squid that they’ve never seen before. 4000 meters below the surface of the Pacific Ocean, they captured footage of a squid burying its head in the mud. It was also holding a tentacle straight up, motionless.
This was not just to camouflage itself, but to act as if it were just another piece of seafloor debris. The squid took on a look a little bit like a sea sponge formation, according to findings published in the journal Ecology.
We currently don’t know much about the squid, other than that it’s an undescribed species of whiplash squid. The morphing act was recorded by a remotely operated vehicle during the SMARTEX research expedition.
SMARTEX is examining how deep-sea mining could affect marine ecosystems in the Clarion-Clipperton Zone. The northeastern Pacific is loaded with valuable minerals, so of course it’s been increasingly targeted by mining companies.
A Squid Got Caught on Camera Pretending to Be a Deep-Sea Plant
It gained a reputation for being a bit desolate and a kind of alien part of the deep-sea, but as this particular squid demonstrates, that might be a lot more going on down there.
Searchers think the squid’s unusual posture might be a form of camouflage. By burying its head in the mud and leaving its tentacles sticking out, it suggests it might be trying to pass itself off as a common seafloor structure, such as a sponge stock or worm tubes, to avoid predators.
Another theory suggests that it’s not trying to camouflage itself out of a sense of self-preservation, but rather as a predatory act to ambush a passing crustacean.
Octopuses and cuttlefish have built up a reputation for being masters of disguise, so it’s not super surprising that another type of cephalopod would demonstrate similar behaviors. What makes this discovery special is that it’s never been documented in a deep-sea cephalopod before.
According to the study’s authors, this combo of covering itself in mud and mimicking deep-sea plant life means we still have a lot to learn about the species.
It also raises some questions about whether any proposed industrial mining might disrupt its ecosystem. The researchers think that if this thing can evade detection so well, there might be way more of them down there than we thought.
Especially considering how much of what we know about that part of the deep-sea comes from still images rather than from observing these creatures in motion.
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