New video of living Colossal squid videotaped from trawler

Sordes

Wonderpus
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Here is an apparantly quite new video taken from board of a Rutrawler. It shows a Mesonychoteuthis feeding on a tootfish caught on a long-line:

There are several things I find quite interesting about it. First of all, the squid moves extremely sluggish, what fits well with the supposed super-slow metabolism. When it comes partially over the surface its colour is deep-red, but some time later when it released the fish and swims away, the could fades to a more whiteish tone. I could well imagine this is much closer to the normal colouration of Mesonychoteuthis in un-stressed situations. The eyes are also quite small in this specimen, despite being fully undamaged. So the eyes in living colossal squids are really not as bloated as depicted in some of the earlier depictions.
 
Some screenshots I took of the video:
 

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Some more:
 

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Yes, I would agree. The eyes are indeed covered partially by the mantle. Although the eyes are not as "bulbous" as in some drawings, they are also not small. :smile: The eyes actually take up most of the head area, and sometimes can "protrude" out a bit (I use the word protrude very loosely, it mainly just looks like large flattened bumps on the side of the head). I think it depends on if the squid is feeling defensive (that's my theory at least). It's possible that they contract the eyes when threatened, but when they are just chillin' in the deep sea, the muscles relax and the eyes bulge out a bit more. :smile:
 

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