Octosquid Found Off Coast of Hawaii
Posted by: Craig Woolheater on July 6th, 2007
An unidentified sea creature, termed an “octosquid,” was found last week off Keahole Point on the Big Island.
Curious creature caught off Keahole Point
The animal, dubbed an “octosquid,” is found off the Big Isle
It’s a squid, it’s an octopus, it’s … a mystery from the deep.
What appears to be a half-squid, half-octopus specimen found off Keahole Point on the Big Island remains unidentified today and could possibly be a new species, said local biologists.
The specimen was found caught in a filter in one of Natural Energy Laboratory of Hawaii Authority’s deep-sea water pipelines last week. The pipeline, which runs 3,000 feet deep, sucks up cold, deep-sea water for the tenants of the natural energy lab.
“When we first saw it, I was really delighted because it was new and alive,” said Jan War, operations manager at NELHA. “I’ve never seen anything like that.”
The natural energy lab is a state agency that operates Hawaii Ocean Science and Technology Park in Kailua-Kona, adjacent to one of the steepest offshore slopes in the Hawaiian Islands.
According to Richard Young, an oceanography professor at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, the specimen tentatively belongs to the genus Mastigoteuthis, but the species is undetermined.
War, who termed the specimen “octosquid” for the way it looked, said it was about a foot long, with white suction cups, eight tentacles and an octopus head with a squidlike mantle.
The octosquid was pulled to the surface, along with three rattail fish and half a dozen satellite jellyfish, and stayed alive for three days. According to War, the lab usually checks its filters once a month, but this time, it put a plankton net in one of the filters and checked it two weeks later.
The pitch-black conditions at 3,000 feet below sea level are unfamiliar to most but riveting to scientists who have had the opportunity to submerge. The sea floor is full of loose sediment, big boulders and rocks, and a lot of mucuslike things floating in the water, which are usually specimens that died at the surface and drifted to the bottom.
“It’s quite fascinating,” War said. “When you get below 700 feet, it’s a totally different world. Lots of fish have heads like a fish and a body like an eel. There are fish floating in a vertical position, with the head up, and don’t move unless they’re disturbed.”
Christopher Kelley, program biologist for the Hawaii Undersea Research Laboratory, went to the natural energy lab Tuesday to pick up the preserved octosquid, rattail fish and jellyfish, which had been stored in a freezer, and brought them back to UH-Manoa’s oceanography department.
“It’s a beautiful squid. It’s a gorgeous ruby red color,” Kelley said. “We really enjoy these little mysteries that come up.”
Also during Kelley’s visit to NELHA yesterday, he and War talked about a more formal sampling program to search for other deep-sea critters. War said their goal is to sample the intake screen more often and capture animals alive and study them in captivity.
“This opens up a whole new area of research that UH can be involved with,” War said.
In October, NELHA will be checking its deep-sea pipelines, something that usually happens every eight to 10 years, because it is worried that something might have happened to them during the earthquakes in October.
“If it’s a new species, (NELHA) would like to name it,” War said. “But that is sort of the honor of whoever classifies it.”Brittany P. Yap
Honolulu Star-Bulletin
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Nifty.
funky
Mollusky
Tasty?
Pass the garlic butter ,please.
Okay, now this very cool and exciting. A welcome break from the recent run of disappointing videos and pics that have been coming out (not that I don’t enjoy checking those out). I wonder if they have made any kind of guess as to the animal’s age. Is this a juvenile or mature, or do they have any identifying indications of age at all given the newness of the creature?
WOW! That thing is wild looking. After I saw it on the net, I came right here and KNEW Loren would be all over this one.
This is fascinating stuff. I am very interested in how these creatures have adapted and evolved to life at these depths, in pitch darkness. Some animals at these kinds of depths have developed remarkable adaptations that seem like something out of science fiction.
Down in the deep oceans, there are unique ecosystems such as the “whale falls”, a sulphophilic community based on sulphur producing bacteria that rely on chemosynthesis (energy from chemicals) rather than photosynthesis (energy from sunlight). Then you get down to the thermal vents of the ocean floor that are home to similar chemosynthesis based life forms, the whole food chain relying on bacteria that are chemoautotrophs, meaning they take their energy from the mineral rich black “smoke” that spews from the vents. These communities thrive in a hostile environment, under deep pressure, living in darkness between thresholds of freezing water on one side and superheated discharge from the vents on the other. The deep sea is a vast, mysterious place full of wonders and creatures that almost seem alien to life as we known it.
Considering how little is known about this habitat and how relatively little it has been explored, I think the deep ocean is going to turn up some remarkable new discoveries. I don’t think it is going to be limited to smaller organisms either. There is a good possibility that some amazing discoveries of large creatures are going to be made. Exciting stuff.
That is so cool. I truly believe the deep ocean holds some of the world’s greatest creatures yet to be discovered. It really is a beautiful animal.
I like the name Squidopus better that Octosquid… Very kool find!!!!!
If it is undamaged, and undistorted from the pressure change, it is probably a new genus, not merely a new species.
Wonderful and fascinating. One more piece of evidence that we don’t know everything about our world yet, and there is much more to learn. I look forward to finding out more about this creature.