A team of scientists and technicians scanning the rocky ocean floor off Southern California couldn’t contain their excitement when they spotted a bright-purple, googly-eyed stubby squid.
They let out a collective “whoa” on video posted on the Exploration Vessel Nautilus’ Facebook page as a camera on a remote-operated vehicle came across the iridescent cephalopod with giant round eyes.
Then the jokes started. “He has weird eyes!” said one enthusiastic observer. “Get close! Get close!” urges another.
One suggested it resembled a child’s dropped toy, and another said the creature’s eyes appeared to be painted on.
“It looks so fake,” says one member of the Nautilus’ team.
The creature looks like a cross between a squid and an octopus but is closely related to a cuttlefish, according to the Nautilus Live website.
The find could be more than just bemusing.
“In addition to the googly-eyed cuteness, there is one thing biologically interesting about this observation,” said cephalopod expert Michael Vecchione of the Smithsonian Institution. The creature could be a new species, he wrote in an email to the expedition.
It was spotted at nearly 3,000 feet deep, which is unusual, but not unheard of. But, on top of that, the stubby squid didn’t have chromatophores, cells that allow it to change color, as members of its species do, Vecchione said.
The question can’t be answered because this particular stubby squid remains deep in the ocean, out of scientists’ reach.
The Nautilus team is part of a four-month Ocean Exploration Trust expedition to map underwater fault zones from Canada to California and understand ecosystems around them.
The team spends hours scanning the barren ocean-scape, “then to come across something adorable like that — it’s a real treat,” Exploration Vessel Nautilus spokeswoman Susan Poulton said.
The Associated Press contributed to this article.
I WANT ONE!!!! IT IS ADORABLE!!!
It is a Cuttlefish and the scientist even say so on video while they are watching. It is not a new squid species. Such sensationalistic CRAP. STOP TRYING TO GET READERS BY LYING!!!
Looks more like an octupus
Than a cuttlefish.
Kelley Arndt,
If you had bothered to actually “read” the article instead of just skim over it, you would have read what everyone else read. Here is what it says, word for word.
“The creature looks like a cross between a squid and an octopus but is closely related to a cuttlefish, according to the Nautilus Live website.”
It does not say it actually “is” a cuttlefish. It says it is “closely related to a cuttlefish”.
Next time, actually “read” something before you open your mouth.
“It’s better to remain silent & be thought a fool than to open your mouth & remove all doubt.”
Albert Reynolds, you are the most smug, self-centered, egotistical complainer I haver ever had the bad luck to accidentally read. Kelley Arndt had every right to say what she said, to ask what she asked in a public forum, and if you didn’t like it, your only right was to keep your mouth shut. No one twisted your arm to make you read it. No one even asked you to skim what she said. I know it’s not normal for you, but next time, think about civility and courtesy before you open your demeaning, ugly, self-centered mouth, your words made immeasurably worse by being in print. I know it’s hard. A fool like you prefers to think he sounds superior by being unreasonable toward someone else who you claim doesn’t live up to your high standards. It’s a shame that the very essence of civility, itself, simple common courtesy, has so thoroughly eluded you. I urge you to work on this. It may not be too late for you to learn.
You might also go back and READ the article again as they also state that there are traits missing from it that are normally found in squid ( chromophores that allow color change) they apparently decided to leave it as a squid based on shape and appearance alone. Or at least that is MY take on reading the article.
Oh wow. Anger issues. Or just controlling issues. So they neglected to understand something wow. Get a grip or get on Prozac.
Say what you want. I see the next cute, cuddly toy….not unlike a Smurf : )
I’m sure I will soon see a squeaky toy at the local pet store that looks just like it… Or maybe I already have…