ADVERTISEMENTOne hundred years after the colossal squid was identified, scientists have filmed a live specimen in the wild for the first time, marking a milestone in deep sea exploration.
During a research expedition in March, a team aboard the Schmidt Ocean Institute’s Falkor (too) vessel encountered the elusive creature near the South Sandwich Islands, in the frigid depths of the southern Atlantic Ocean.
Measuring just 30 centimetres – a fraction of the size it can grow – the juvenile squid was filmed 600 metres below the surface by a remotely operated vehicle. Its haunting, translucent form offered an extraordinary glimpse into one of the ocean’s most mysterious species.
“It’s exciting to see the first in situ footage of a juvenile colossal and humbling to think that they have no idea that humans exist,” said Dr Kat Bolstad of the Auckland University of Technology, one of the independent experts who verified the footage.
Scientists discovered the squid by accident
Little is known of the colossal squid’s life cycle. Dying adults have occasionally been hauled in or filmed by fishermen, but none had been observed alive at such depth.
“For 100 years, we have mainly encountered them as prey remains in whale and seabird stomachs and as predators of harvested toothfish,” said Bolstad.
Experts believe they can grow up to seven metres in length and weigh as much as 500 kilogrammes, making them the heaviest invertebrate and largest squid on the planet. As they mature, juveniles lose their see-through appearance and take on a reddish hue.
This sighting is even more remarkable for the fact that it was something of a happy accident.
According to a Schmidt Ocean Institute spokesperson, the team had set out to discover new marine life, not find and film the colossal squid.
The team has found two new species in three months
The March expedition wasn’t the only time the research team struck scientific gold in 2025.
In January, the team filmed the first confirmed footage of the glacial glass squid in the Southern Ocean near Antarctica – another species never before seen in its natural habitat.
According to Bolstad and Dr Aaron Evans, another independent expert who verified the footage, these two juvenile squids share several similarities. Both have transparent bodies and sharp hooks at the ends of their two longer tentacles. Unlike the colossal squid, however, the glacial glass squid lacks hooks in the middle of its eight arms.
The sighting occurred in the Bellingshausen Sea, as scientists studied the seafloor revealed by a massive iceberg, roughly the size of Chicago, breaking away from the George VI ice shelf. The resulting shake-up revealed a previously hidden ecosystem, shedding light on how climate change is affecting the polar oceans and how little we know of their depths.
“The first sighting of two different squids on back-to-back expeditions is remarkable and shows how little we have seen of the magnificent inhabitants of the Southern Ocean,” said Dr Jyotika Virmani, executive director of the Schmidt Ocean Institute.
More discoveries await in the deep seas
The 35-day expedition that captured the footage of the colossal squid was part of a collaboration between the Schmidt Ocean Institute, the Nippon Foundation-Nekton Ocean Census and GoSouth, a joint project between the University of Plymouth (UK), the GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research (Germany) and the British Antarctic Survey.
ADVERTISEMENTOnly 240,000 marine species have so far been documented, leaving millions more to be discovered. The Schmidt Ocean Institute has helped to fill that gap.
The institute’s remotely operated vehicle, SuBastian, has captured the first confirmed footage of at least four squid species in the wild – including the colossal squid and glacial glass squid – with another yet to be verified. Their work is just beginning.
“These unforgettable moments continue to remind us that the ocean is brimming with mysteries yet to be solved,” Virmani said.
