Megalocranchia

[GPO87]

This genus is really cool because of the large 4-lobed photophore it has around its digestive gland. Makes it fairly easy to distinguish amongst the other Cranchiids.


Megalocranchia fisheri

Info at:
Megalocranchia

 

[jeffday]

schmidt saw one of these at the beginnning of a dive last year. tweet contains a video preview as well as a link to the full 8-minute observation

https://twitter.com/x/status/1461061096291381259

 

[jeffday]

coincidentally stumbled across another observation, although it's a juvenile. video at the top here:

Dive 06: Stetson Mesa Seep: June 27: Windows to the Deep 2019: Exploration of the Deep-sea Habitats of the Southeastern United States: NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer: NOAA Office of Ocean Exploration and Research

 

[GPO87]

OH WOW! This footage is amazing Jeff! Thanks for posting here!

 

[GPO87]

This is particularly amazing footage to see as more common Cranchiids we see with in-situ video are Taonius/Galiteuthis from the Monterey Canyon. It's great to be able to make those live comparisons between the genera, as they can begin to look very similar once they have been preserved!

 

[tonmo]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1630126076977455105

h/t @jeffday

 

[GPO87]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1630126076977455105

h/t @jeffday

Thanks for posting this here! It's so rare to get video footage of an adult Megalocranchia! Although it's sad that it was caught on a line, it really gives some impressive visuals of the squids unique anatomy.

 

[tonmo]

Ya, something that has developed on Twitter over the last few years is a LOT of remarkable ceph content from Japan and other eastern countries. Including some deep sea cephs in holding tanks or even aquariums! I'm hesitant to share it all (depending on the circumstances), but there's a lot out there. Jeff has been harvesting a lot of great content by scouring the accounts, and also YouTube.