Eerie giant squid caught looming over deep sea probe in rare photo
A GIANT squid has been caught on camera 'watching' a deep sea mission.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has posted the creepy image of the giant sea creature on Facebook.
The NOAA the post: "Check out this lurking deep-sea squid, seen creeping above remotely operated vehicle Deep Discoverer (D2) as the vehicle explores the face of a scarp feature during Windows to the Deep 2019.
"Ever get the feeling you’re being watched?!"
In the image the giant creature can be seen looming over the remotely operated vehicle Deep Discoverer during one of its Okeanos missions.
The Okeanos Explorer poorly understood deep water areas of the Southeastern US continental margin.
Experts think that giant squid can grow up to 13 metres long due to a condition called deep-sea gigantism.
For a bit of scale, the Deep Discoverer vehicle is just under three metres tall.
Due to the perspective it's hard to determine how big the giant squid in the image may be.
Deep Discoverer doesn't carry any passengers.
It is attached to a ship and another underwater vehicle called Seirios, which captures images and enables livestream footage of sea missions.
Deep Discoverer can dive to depths of 6,000 metres and is allowing researchers to explore areas of the ocean that used to be out of human reach.
Giant squid facts
Here's what you need to know...
- The maximum recorded length of a giant squid is around 13 metres
- There have been reports of larger squid sightings but they have never been scinetifically verified
- Their tentacles can regenerate
- Squid have three hearts
- There is a small amount of evidence to suggest they might be cannibals
- A giant squid had never been caught on camera until 2006
- They can have eyes the size of beach balls
- Squid have sharp parrot-like beaks
- There is evidence to suggest they only live for around five years, which would mean they must grow extremely quickly
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In other animal news, an ape-like species has been unearthed in Germany and experts think it could be the possible 'missing link' between apes and humans.
Divers discovered a human-size egg sac filled with hundreds of thousands of baby squid.
And, this terrifying footage shows a giant squid the size of a car caught on camera in US waters for the first time.
Do you think giant squid are creepy? Let us know in the comments...
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