You're listening to the Sunday Session podcast with Francesca Rudkin from News Talks atb.

You're listening to the Sunday Session podcast with Francesca Rudkin from News Talks atb.

It has been one hundred years since the discovery of the colossal squid, an enormous invertebrate that straddles the line between legend and reality, and this week, for the first time ever, we got to see footage of a colossal squid alive in its natural environment. The footage was captured in the South Atlantic Ocean near the remote South Sandwich Islands by a team from the Schmidt Ocean Institute, and it was a Kiwi who verified that what we are witnessing is in fact a colossal squid. Associate professor at Auckland University of Technology and squid expert, a doctor kat ball Star is with me now, Good morning.

It has been one hundred years since the discovery of the colossal squid, an enormous invertebrate that straddles the line between legend and reality, and this week, for the first time ever, we got to see footage of a colossal squid alive in its natural environment. The footage was captured in the South Atlantic Ocean near the remote South Sandwich Islands by a team from the Schmidt Ocean Institute, and it was a Kiwi who verified that what we are witnessing is in fact a colossal squid. Associate professor at Auckland University of Technology and squid expert, a doctor kat ball Star is with me now, Good morning.

Kyoda, Thanks for having me.

Kyoda, Thanks for having me.

Hey, how did you react when you saw this footage?

Hey, how did you react when you saw this footage?

Oh, we're hugely exciting, of course. I mean, we've been studying these animals. We've known about them for a century. Personally, I've been studying them for over twenty years, and of course in all that time, mostly what we get to see are dead specimens, which are also exciting in their own way. But you know, nothing on seeing the live animal, which now the world can share in.

Oh, we're hugely exciting, of course. I mean, we've been studying these animals. We've known about them for a century. Personally, I've been studying them for over twenty years, and of course in all that time, mostly what we get to see are dead specimens, which are also exciting in their own way. But you know, nothing on seeing the live animal, which now the world can share in.

So when you saw it, did you immediately recognize it from just being able to, you know, examine and investigate deed.

So when you saw it, did you immediately recognize it from just being able to, you know, examine and investigate deed.

Species, so I knew what to look for. It was quite clearly a glass squid, So that's what we call the family, and if you look at the footage you can see exactly why they're called glass squids. But in the Antarctic there are three species, and so it was a matter of checking which particular features this one had, and some of those features were not visible initially in the version of the footage that I saw, so I had to wait for the high res version. But once we got a good look at that, it was clear that the features that would confirm that this was a colossal squid were there.

Species, so I knew what to look for. It was quite clearly a glass squid, So that's what we call the family, and if you look at the footage you can see exactly why they're called glass squids. But in the Antarctic there are three species, and so it was a matter of checking which particular features this one had, and some of those features were not visible initially in the version of the footage that I saw, so I had to wait for the high res version. But once we got a good look at that, it was clear that the features that would confirm that this was a colossal squid were there.

And what will those features?

And what will those features?

Kate?

Kate?

So people who know anything about the colossal squid probably have heard about the hooks that it has. Quite a few different squids have those, but the colossal has them in a unique arrangement. So squid have two long tentacles and eight shorter arms. Those arms have suckers and or hooks all the way along their length, and then the tentacles have those things grouped right at the end in two clusters what we call the tentacle clubs. So we know that the colossal squid has got pretty impressive swiveling hooks on the ends of those two long tentacles. Those were clearly visible in the footage. That narrowed it down to one of two species. And then the colossal squid also has a unique setup where in the middle of the arms it has hooks and those hooks are flanked on either side by suckers near the mouth and toward the arm tips. And that was what I needed to confirm on the high rest footage. Those were there. They were clearly visible once we had that higher resolution footage, and that confirmed that this was a colossal squid.

So people who know anything about the colossal squid probably have heard about the hooks that it has. Quite a few different squids have those, but the colossal has them in a unique arrangement. So squid have two long tentacles and eight shorter arms. Those arms have suckers and or hooks all the way along their length, and then the tentacles have those things grouped right at the end in two clusters what we call the tentacle clubs. So we know that the colossal squid has got pretty impressive swiveling hooks on the ends of those two long tentacles. Those were clearly visible in the footage. That narrowed it down to one of two species. And then the colossal squid also has a unique setup where in the middle of the arms it has hooks and those hooks are flanked on either side by suckers near the mouth and toward the arm tips. And that was what I needed to confirm on the high rest footage. Those were there. They were clearly visible once we had that higher resolution footage, and that confirmed that this was a colossal squid.

So are the hooks Are they just another way for the squid to be able to catch food or are they.

So are the hooks Are they just another way for the squid to be able to catch food or are they.

Well Once an animal evolves a particular feature, if it can use them in multiple ways, that's even stronger selection pressure to keep that feature. So it's great if it's useful for one thing, which you know probably they they have quite a significant role in feeding, but they may be helpful for defense as well. The sperm whale is one of the colossal squid's major predators and large sperm whales that have been feeding in the Antarctic often have sets of parallel scratches on their heads that very closely match the spacing of those hooks on the tentacle clubs. And then in some squid. Probably shouldn't go into this in a family show on a Sunday morning, but some squid also use them in reproduction. But that's a different story for a different day.

Well Once an animal evolves a particular feature, if it can use them in multiple ways, that's even stronger selection pressure to keep that feature. So it's great if it's useful for one thing, which you know probably they they have quite a significant role in feeding, but they may be helpful for defense as well. The sperm whale is one of the colossal squid's major predators and large sperm whales that have been feeding in the Antarctic often have sets of parallel scratches on their heads that very closely match the spacing of those hooks on the tentacle clubs. And then in some squid. Probably shouldn't go into this in a family show on a Sunday morning, but some squid also use them in reproduction. But that's a different story for a different day.

Okay, don't worry, the imagination is running now. I think it was this particular squid on the footage.

Okay, don't worry, the imagination is running now. I think it was this particular squid on the footage.

This one was. It was not quite what we would call a baby, but certainly a young individual, probably about thirty centimeters.

This one was. It was not quite what we would call a baby, but certainly a young individual, probably about thirty centimeters.

Okay, so it's not colossal yet.

Okay, so it's not colossal yet.

Right, It will become colossal, and you know, colossal is the common name for this species, in the same way that we would call something, you know, an orange ruffy or a common dolphin. So it will become colossal. But of course we all start out small, and so that's the case here as well.

Right, It will become colossal, and you know, colossal is the common name for this species, in the same way that we would call something, you know, an orange ruffy or a common dolphin. So it will become colossal. But of course we all start out small, and so that's the case here as well.

And Kat, how long does that take for it to become fully.

And Kat, how long does that take for it to become fully.

Well, that's a great question. We do not fully understand the lifespan of a lot of deep sea squid species because you can't keep them in tanks and sort of check how long it takes them to grow to certain sizes. They do have certain structures in the body that have growth rings, and so one of those structures is the beak, and recently someone calculated based on the growth rings in the beak that the maximum lifespan might be about five point two years. That's quite long for acephalopod, but it's also a very fast growth rate for such a large animal, but it is plausible. The trouble is it's hard to verify how often those growth rings are laid down, So that's based on the growth rings being laid down daily. Will if it would turn out that those rings are not on a daily basis, then that changes that estimate.

Well, that's a great question. We do not fully understand the lifespan of a lot of deep sea squid species because you can't keep them in tanks and sort of check how long it takes them to grow to certain sizes. They do have certain structures in the body that have growth rings, and so one of those structures is the beak, and recently someone calculated based on the growth rings in the beak that the maximum lifespan might be about five point two years. That's quite long for acephalopod, but it's also a very fast growth rate for such a large animal, but it is plausible. The trouble is it's hard to verify how often those growth rings are laid down, So that's based on the growth rings being laid down daily. Will if it would turn out that those rings are not on a daily basis, then that changes that estimate.

Do we know why colossal squid are transparent when young and eventually turn white, so.

Do we know why colossal squid are transparent when young and eventually turn white, so.

They probably One of the things that's nice about this footage is we can see how transparent it is, but it also has visible color cells or chromatophors, which it can open and close to change, probably to change its appearance between opaque and transparent. It probably becomes less transparent as it's older, but the younger animals are actually living up in the shallower waters, and so one of the really common forms of camouflage in the surface layers and the slightly deeper layers where there's still enough light to see by, is to have a transparent body so that you don't have to hide yourself by looking like something else or camouflaging. Your predators just look through you. And so this animal is still in a stage where that is probably advantageous. So this is an expedition partner between Schmid Ocean Institute and Ocean Sensus, which is an international organization that's trying to help us accelerate the rate of which we discover new marine species, because we know there are hundreds of thousands of species left in the ocean that humans don't know about yet, and in order to understand these ecosystems properly, we need to get those described. Know that we're using the same name for the same types of an animals. So this expedition was actually looking for new species and new habitats around the South Sandwich Islands. They were not specifically looking for squids or the colossal squid, although plenty of teams you know, have that as one of their goals. So they actually just happened to be in the right place at the right time. They have had a lot of presence in the Antarctic this season. This is their third voyage down in the region, and certainly with the technology they have and the amount of time they're spending in the deep sea, I think it's great that they were the ones to get this footage because they've put in a lot of effort into deep sea exploration, and also they're sharing it in real time with everyone, so you can actually be sitting in your office at home and watching with just a few seconds delay exactly what they're doing. So anyone who happened to be watching at the time actually shared in seeing the first footage of the colossal squid that we've ever confirmed, which is pretty amazing.

They probably One of the things that's nice about this footage is we can see how transparent it is, but it also has visible color cells or chromatophors, which it can open and close to change, probably to change its appearance between opaque and transparent. It probably becomes less transparent as it's older, but the younger animals are actually living up in the shallower waters, and so one of the really common forms of camouflage in the surface layers and the slightly deeper layers where there's still enough light to see by, is to have a transparent body so that you don't have to hide yourself by looking like something else or camouflaging. Your predators just look through you. And so this animal is still in a stage where that is probably advantageous. So this is an expedition partner between Schmid Ocean Institute and Ocean Sensus, which is an international organization that's trying to help us accelerate the rate of which we discover new marine species, because we know there are hundreds of thousands of species left in the ocean that humans don't know about yet, and in order to understand these ecosystems properly, we need to get those described. Know that we're using the same name for the same types of an animals. So this expedition was actually looking for new species and new habitats around the South Sandwich Islands. They were not specifically looking for squids or the colossal squid, although plenty of teams you know, have that as one of their goals. So they actually just happened to be in the right place at the right time. They have had a lot of presence in the Antarctic this season. This is their third voyage down in the region, and certainly with the technology they have and the amount of time they're spending in the deep sea, I think it's great that they were the ones to get this footage because they've put in a lot of effort into deep sea exploration, and also they're sharing it in real time with everyone, so you can actually be sitting in your office at home and watching with just a few seconds delay exactly what they're doing. So anyone who happened to be watching at the time actually shared in seeing the first footage of the colossal squid that we've ever confirmed, which is pretty amazing.

Yeah, it's amazing. Hey, is there any chance that they could be in New Zealand waters?

Yeah, it's amazing. Hey, is there any chance that they could be in New Zealand waters?

Very unlikely. If so, they would be in the extreme far south. So there were what we considered to be an Antarctic endemic species, so that only live in the Antarctic. Where exactly the borders are of that body of water depends worldwide and on the season and a few other things. We certainly have giant squid in our waters, which are a completely different species, but we have not had any confirmation that we have colossal even in the far reaches of our southern eased.

Very unlikely. If so, they would be in the extreme far south. So there were what we considered to be an Antarctic endemic species, so that only live in the Antarctic. Where exactly the borders are of that body of water depends worldwide and on the season and a few other things. We certainly have giant squid in our waters, which are a completely different species, but we have not had any confirmation that we have colossal even in the far reaches of our southern eased.

Okay, really good to talk to you. That was cat Bolstered there. Doctor cat Bolstered, Associate professor at Ugland University of Technology. She's a squid expert and she was the one that was able to identify what they captured on film there.

Okay, really good to talk to you. That was cat Bolstered there. Doctor cat Bolstered, Associate professor at Ugland University of Technology. She's a squid expert and she was the one that was able to identify what they captured on film there.

For more from the Sunday session with Francesca Rudkin, listen live to News Talks it'd be from nine am Sunday, or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.

For more from the Sunday session with Francesca Rudkin, listen live to News Talks it'd be from nine am Sunday, or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.