It’s a bird, it’s a plane, it’s a…. Pokemon?
LOS ANGELES – A research vessel exploring the ocean off the California coast recently captured footage of a “googly-eyed” Stubby squid. The undersea video has been viewed hundreds of thousands of times in the first few days since uploaded.
Stubby Squid
The team spotted this Stubby Squid off the coast of California at a depth of 900 meters (2,950 feet). The stubby squid (Rossia pacifica) looks like a cross between an octopus and squid, but is more closely related to cuttlefish.
The E/V Nautilus is exploring the ocean studying biology, geology, archeology, and captured this creature with their video.
The Stubby Squid spends life on the seafloor, activating a sticky mucus jacket and burrowing into the sediment to camouflage, leaving their eyes poking out to spot prey like shrimp and small fish. Rossia pacifica is found in the Northern Pacific from Japan to Southern California up to 300m, but in addition to our sighting, researchers at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI) have spotted them at depths of 1,300 m (4,260 ft).
According to the E/V Nautilus YouTube page, “Stubby squid live in the Northern Pacific between Japan and Southern California, and are usually spotted at a depth of about 300 meters, though sightings have occurred at much lower depths, according to the page. The one in the video, for example, was located 900 meters below the ocean surface off the coast of California.
The Exploration Vessel Nautilus is a 64-meter research vessel operated by the Ocean Exploration Trust, which is among a number of organizations that funds the Nautilus Exploration Program, according to its website. Other agencies funding the operation include the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration and the Office of Naval Research.”