Featured Image Credit: CSIRO via Youtube
Off the Southwest coast of Tasmania, and around 443 feet under the water, researchers aboard CSIRO ship RV Investigator recorded a squid attacking… well, another squid!
The video caught a lot of attention after they posted it to Facebook, and has gotten plenty interested questions. Because, with so little footage, while everyone knows what happened “a squid dragged another squid off!” Less people know why it happened, or what was going on.
It’s pretty obvious that the smaller, first squid was interested in the metallic object in the water. CSIRO explained it was a calibration line with distance markers on it, supposed to provide information for creatures at about 3,200 feet below, instead of 400-or-so feet.
The leading scientist on the project, Rudy Kloser, told National Geographic that the calibrating system can “attract some inquisitive and sometimes aggressive squids.” And that certainly seems to be the case for the first; probably because it looked like an easy lunch.
Meanwhile, it had no idea what was lurking nearby.
There are a few theories as to what could be going on, and not even CSIRO has a concrete answer for us.
One theory, and probably the most likely (unfortunately for the first squid) is that it became a snack, instead of the line it believed it was preying on. Multiple species of squid are known to cannibalize or predate on others, when food sources are low.
Another theory is that it was mating time, or, as CSIRO put it… ”some intense canoodling”.
But Dr Danna Staaf, a marine biologist, wrote on Youtube that… ”The ‘mating or cannibalism?’ question is always a good one to raise. Sometimes an interaction can result in both! But in this case, it looks like straight predation to me.”
In any case, the video is fascinating, and we’re certainly hoping for more updates in the future!