An amazing image of the elusive big-fin squid

[n2doc]

Magnapinna squids are one of the deep-sea more ethereal creatures. Little is known of these squid as very few have ever been captured, although over the last decade with the increased usage of remotely operated vehicles (ROV) and submersibles more and more video is emerging of them. They are unusual in both that the fins are up to 90% of the length of the body, i.e. the mantle, and the ridiculously long length of the arms. The squid often will hold some of the arms at a 90˚ angles from the side of the body. Wikipedia has a nice entry on the history of their discovery.

On November 11, 2007., a Shell oil company ROV capture a Magnapinna on video (below) at a depth of 2386 meters (~1.5 miles). Someone (I’ve been unable to track down who created this), used the video to produce a single image of this individual (above). It was subsequently posted to Reddit. Love the image of this fascinating creature.

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http://deepseanews.com/2013/11/an-amazing-image-of-the-elusive-big-fin-squid/

[NYC_SKP]

1. Different from architoothis, (sp), the giant squid?

This one looks like it wouldn't want to live around currents of any magnitude.

[Thor_MN]

2. Is it playing footsie with a much larger squid?

What are the two large paddle shapes disappearing off the bottom of the picture?

[bearssoapbox]

3. An even bigger squid reaching up for it?

An amazing picture. It looks as (if not more so) alien as any thing that sci-fi writers or movies have ever come up with.

[rwsanders]

9. I think it is the tentacles that are close to the camera. So a trick of perspective.

[Thor_MN]

10. From the video and some googling, those big paddles do not belong to the squid at th top of the pic

If it is another squid, it is not another Magnapinna.

[secondvariety]

4. Here's a video.

Beautiful creature.

[eppur_se_muova]

5. I was gonna say -- arms THAT long and they named it "big FINNED" ??

Maybe it should just be called the "small-bodied squid".

[packman]

6. That is mesmerizing

but, how big (long) is it?

[Posteritatis]

7. Somewhere in the 8-10 meter range including the arms, if I remember correctly (nt)

[OnyxCollie]

8. Freaky.