快猫短视频

Submersibles have spotted a new type of squid swimming near the ocean floor at depths of two to four kilometres in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans.

鈥淲hat鈥檚 bizarre about these animals is the long skinny arms,鈥� says Michael Vecchione of the National Museum of Natural History in Washington. Part of the arm sticks out radially, then a long flexible part stretches behind; the whole animal is up to seven metres long.

All 10 arms look the same; other squids have two tentacles that look different from the 8 remaining arms. Vecchione thinks they may be related to a family called Magnapinnidae first described in 1998, but known only from juveniles found nearer the surface.

Deep oceans are 鈥渂y far the largest ecosystem on earth, and virtually unexplored,鈥� Vecchione told 快猫短视频. 鈥淚 suspect there鈥檚 a lot of really unusual stuff there.鈥�

Journal reference: Science (vol 294, p 2505)