Discovery log

2012

The giant squid filmed for the first time swimming freely in its habitat

On 10 July 2012, off the Ogasawara Islands, Japanese zoologist Tsunemi Kubodera, biologist Edith Widder and cephalopod specialist Steve O'Shea filmed a giant squid actively swimming at a depth of about 630 metres from a submersible. Unlike the first photographs taken in 2004, of an animal hooked and hauled to the surface, this footage was the first to show the species moving freely in its natural habitat, captured using a red-light and bioluminescent-lure camera system designed by Edith Widder.

• 🌊Pacific Ocean
• ↓Mesopelagic zone