By Mindy Weisberger, Senior
Writer | April 20, 2018 11:57am ET
"There's a challenge for you — what is
THAT?"
Unusual deep-sea creatures seen for the first
time can sometimes stump even a seasoned expert in marine biology. And in a recent
video of
an ocean dive in the Gulf of Mexico, an expert's off-camera exclamation
revealed his surprised response to the appearance of a squid that had contorted
itself into such a peculiar shape that it barely resembled a squid at all.
On April 17, the inverted, folded-up squid
made its on-screen debut for the cameras of an expedition submersible. Its
posture was so peculiar that Mike Vecchione, a research zoologist with the
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), dubbed the contorted
cephalopod "the most bizarre squid I've ever seen." [Gallery:
Exploring the Gulf of Mexico]
The dive was part of an ocean exploration
mission to investigate deep-sea habitats in the Gulf of Mexico. The expedition
is being conducted by the NOAA research vessel Okeanos
Explorer and is taking place from April 11 through May 3.
From aboard Okeanos, scientists send
deep-diving remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) to capture high-resolution video
of marine communities and to map the geography of habitats on the bottom of the
ocean. Okeanos researchers share frequent updates from the dives, including
photos and video, posting them on the mission's website.
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