If you haven’t smiled yet today, you need to watch this video of researchers aboard Nautilus coming across an adorable googly-eyed cephalopod.
I’m not sure what is better – the actual squid or the crew. Such excitement! It goes a little something like this:
“What IS that?!”
“He has weird eyes.”
“No, no, no. Don’t change the angle, please!”
“It looks like some little kid dropped their toy.”
“Maybe he has eye problems…”
“He looks fake, like Davy Jones.”
“He looks like he has googly-eyes! They look painted on.”
“He is awesome.”
“His eyes are freaking me out…”
“He is cool, Mr. Cuttlefish!”
“Is he a cuttlefish? Octopus? No, cuttlefish. He is a ‘cuddle’ fish.”
From the Nautilus website: ‘The stubby squid (Rossia pacifica) looks like a cross between an octopus and squid, but is more closely related to cuttlefish. The team spotted this Stubby Squid off the coast of California at a depth of 2,950 feet.
This species 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 the team’s sighting, researchers at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI) have spotted them at depths of 1,300 m (4,260 ft).’
Nautilus is currently cruising up the California coastline investigating old ship wrecks. How cool is that? Follow them on Twitter for more updates during their mission!
Aren’t Cephalopod’s the greatest? 🐙 Check out more popular Krystian Science posts! Explore ocean photography, news, and exciting discoveries.
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