Observations of mesopelagic large squids in the wildusing recently developed underwater visual equipment

National Museum of Nature and ScienceE-mail : kubodera@kahaku.go.jp

Tsunemi Kubodera

Tsunemi Kubodera

Introduction
The oceans occupy about 70 % of the surface of the globe and provide vast and diverse living spacefor marine organisms, not only horizontally from tropical to boreal regions, but also vertically from thesurface to the abyss. In the mesopelagic waters of the world oceans there should exist a huge biomass oflarge squids, an expectation deduced beyond doubt by the large sperm-whale population and theirsquid-eating feeding habits. However, there has been no evidence from capture of these presumed
mesopelagic large squids in shoals by previous research gear, nor have they been observed by deep-sea
submersibles at the forefront of science and technology. So far, the only knowledge on mesopelagic large
squids has been based on examination of stomach contents of sperm whales (Okutani and Satake, 1978;
Clarke, 1980; among others).
Sperm whales are the largest toothed whaleand grow to nearly 16 m and 11 m body length inmature males and females, respectively (Fig. 1).
Females and their calves form a school and live inwarm water. Mature males are solitary and migrate
widely from warm waters to the cold Antarctic
waters. Sperm whales have an extraordinary diving
ability and make long and deep dives (40-60 min;>1000m). They feed mainly on mesopelagic large
squids during their long and deep dives. Daily foodFig. 1. Sperm whale, off Ogasawara Islands(Photo by Ogasawara Whale Watching Association)

consumption of sperm whales is estimated to be about 3-4 % of the body weight; hence females feed on
about 500 kg and males on about 1,500 kg of prey in a day (Kato, 1995). Sperm whale populations in theWestern North Pacific is estimated to be over 200,000 individuals (Ohsumi per. com.). Assuming one
individual consumes 1000 kg food daily, nearly 200, 000 tons of squids are eaten by sperm whales in a dayin this region. Thus, 73 million ton of huge squids are consumed by sperm whales annually. By
comparison, squid fisheries of the world have landed around 3 million ton annually (FAO Fisheries
Statistic, 2000).

22However, we have very limited knowledge on the basic biology and ecology of deep-sea large
squids due to the difficulties in capturing them and observing them in the wild. We imagined that theselarge squids, with their remarkable swimming and sensory abilities, could and would easily escape fromfishing gear and submersibles approaching them with such threatening water movements, noise and strong
lights. Therefore, we proposed a research project using small underwater visual equipment which might
give a minimum disturbance to the deep-sea environment and to the deep-sea large squids.
Tsunemi Kubodera

Since 2002, in cooperation with Dr. Mori of the Ogasawara Whale Watching Association, we haveconducted research on the biology and potential biomass of large mesopelagic squids in their naturalenvironment in the waters off the Ogasawara Islands, where female sperm whales and their calves schooland stay every year between September and November. We used compact underwater digital cameras andvideo camera systems to capture live images of these large squids by suspending the equipment at thedepths to which sperm whales frequently dive for feeding.

I. Years 2002-2004: Underwater Digital Camera System
The origin of the present project started when Dr. Naito and his team, of the National Institute ofPolar Research, introduced to us their bio-logger (DSL-1000DV) which was developed by cooperation with
Little Leonardo Co. in 1995. This logger is similar in appearance to a binocular telescope, consisting of two
cylinders each measuring 60 mm in diameter and 250 mm in height, one cylinder containing a digital
camera, depth sensor and data logger and the other containing a strobe light. The system was controlled bya timer and a depth-activated switch, and could capture JPEG images of around 135 KB with the shortest
interval of 30 s and keep about 600 images during one operation. This system was originally developed formonitoring diving behaviors of southern elephant seals and Weddell seals in the Antarctic as well as
recording what they saw during diving (Sato et al., 2002) (Figs. 2-3). Dr. Naito kindly permitted us to useof 2 or 3 of his loggers for our research.

Fig. 2. Weddell seal and remote camera systemon the back. (Photo by National Institute of Polar Research)

Fig. 3. Remote camera system with under-water
pencil light. (Photo by K.Mori)

We also knew that fishermen in the Ogasawara Islands catch large neon flying squid anddiamond-back squid as well as huge bill fish and blue fine tuna weighing over 100 kg from a 600-800m

23depth layer, using a free-drifting vertical long-line. We thought we might capture squid images by hanging
a camera system at the end of a vertical long-line below which something attractive for deep-sea large
squids was attached. For the lure, we designed bait rigs
which were suspended from the system with a 3 mnylon monofilament line, weighed down by a 23 cm
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lead squid jig with a fresh Japanese common squid,
Todarodes pacificus of 22-25 cm mantle length. Two
0.5 m side branches, each with a hook and a bait squidof 22-25cm mantle length, were attached to the first.
The second branch also bore a mesh bag filled withfreshly-mashed euphausid shrimps as an odor lure (Fig. 4).
Over three seasons (2002-2004) in September
and October, we carried out 6-7 days research each year.
We left Chichijima Port in the early morning for thetarget area, released 2-3 vertical research long lines at
400-1000 m depths and after 4-5 hours of free drift
retrieved them and returned to port in the late afternoon.
We improved the research gear little by little each year,
adjusting the lengths of the main line and bait rigs, andconducted over 30 deployments, in 23 of which we
obtained images.
Here are examples of our research images. Neon
flying squids, Ommastrephes bartrami, were the squid
most frequently observed in the depths between 400 m
and 800 m and they were abundant at 600 m deep
during the day-time (Kubodera, 2003). Judging from theFig. 4. Diagram of vertical long-line systemused for survey.

bait squid size, neon flying squid observed werefull-grown individuals about 45-50 cm mantle length. They swam forward spreading all arms to attack thebait and then hold the bait squid with all arms except the tentacles (Fig. 5). Pomfrets, Taractichthyssteindachner, of 45-50 cm in body length, were often captured by the camera at the depths between 400 m
and 600 m and were sometimes hooked up brought up on the boat when we retrieved the system (Fig. 6).
When the vertical long-line drifted into shallower bottoms, deep-sea shark, Squalus sp. and small fishes
living just on the bottom were captured on camera (Fig. 7). At 800 m deep, large fishes of over 1 m in bodylength, Ruvettus pretiosus (Fig. 8) and Lepidocybium flavobrunneum, were also captured. The system
hanging at 1000 m depth provided almost nothing except one miraculous shot of a blue shark attacking abait squid attached to the special jig. A full-frame camera image was obtained (Fig. 9). This is concrete
evidence that blue sharks feed on prey at great depths during the day.

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Fig. 5. Neon flying squids, Ommastrephes bartrami,
filmed by remote camera system at around
400 m deep.

Fig. 6. Pomfret, Taractichtys steindachner,
filmed by remote camera system at around
400 m deep.

Fig. 7. Bottom shark and fish filmed by remotecamera system at around 500 m deep.

Fig. 8. Black escolar, Ruvettus pretiosus, filmed byremote camera system at around 800 m deep.

Fig. 9. Blue shark, Prionace glauca, filmed byremote camera system at around 1000 m deep.

I-1.

First-ever observations of a live giant squid in the wild
During the third year of the project, at 09:15 hrs on 30 September 2004, an individual giant squid

attacked the lower squid bait of one of our camera systems at 900 m over a seafloor depth of 1,200 m

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southeastern off Chichijima Island at 6°57.3'N, 142°16.8'E. The squid's initial attack was captured on
camera (Fig. 10) at the 50th frame and showed head and parts of arms with the two long tentacles
characteristic of giant squids wrapped in a ball around the bait. The following several frames (about 5 min)captured nothing but our squid jig and a rope-like tentacle which came into the frames after short while.
The club of one of the long tentacles of this giant squid had become snagged on the squid jig. More thanattempts to detach itself from the jig.
For the first 20 minutes, the squid disappeared from view as it actively swam away from the camera
system. For the next 80 minutes, the squid repeatedly approached the line, spreading its arms widely (Figs.

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500 digital images were taken over the subsequent four and one half hours, recording the squid's repeated

11-13) or enveloping the line. During this period the entire camera system was drawn upwards by the squidfrom 900 m to a depth of 600 m (Fig. 14). Afterwards, the squid was often out of the camera frame,
suggesting that the squid was tired and could not pull at the line strongly enough to make the camera faceit. Over the subsequent three hours, the squid and system slowly returned to the planned deployment depthof 1,000 meters.

Fig. 10. The first image of the giant squid,
Architeuthis sp., filmed by remote camera
system at around 900 m deep (50 th frame).

Fig. 11. Spreading arms (98th frame).

Fig. 12. Wrapping bat squid with tentacles andventral arms (99 th frame).

Fig.13. Wrapping bat squid with additional arms
(100 th frame).

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Fig. 14. Summary of depth, image number and the giant squid behaviors recorded by the remote camera system.

Fig. 15. Tentacle attached to jig, one frame before
the tentacle break (555th frame).

Four hours and 13 minutes after becominggFig. 16. Subsequent image (30 s later) at moment of
tentacle break, as seen by sudden slackness
in the line (556th frame).

asnagged, the attached tentacle broke, as seen byy
sudden slackness in the line (Figs. 15-16). Judging
from the depth recorder, the tentacle cut occurred 10
minutes before retrieving the system. This means thatthe squid cut the tentacle off by itself.
The severed tentacle remained attached to theline and was retrieved with the camera system (Figs.
17a-c). The recovered section of tentacle was stillbfunctioning, with the large suckers of the tentacle
club repeatedly gripping the boat deck and any
offered fingers. The tentacle section was 6 m long.
The tentacle club was 720 mm in length with four
longitudinal rows of suckers of which median two
rows of suckers were much bigger than marginal ones
and with a fixing apparatus at the proximal portion of
the club. The largest sucker was about 28 mm in27

Fig. 17. Severed tentacle remained attached to theline, a: squid jig with tentacle attached, b:
tentacle on board, (Photo by H. Okamoto, NHK)diameter. Based on available data sets forcArchiteuthis morphology (Roeleveld and Lipinski,
1991; Förch, 1998; Kubodera, 2004), mantle length(ML) was estimated from tentacle club length (TCL)
and diameter of the largest sucker on the tentacle club

Fig. 17. c: the largest sucker on tentacular club.

ML = 2393 TCL - 107.956 (in mm, n=7, r=0.941, ML= 1200-2020mm)(Photo by H. Okamoto, NHK)

ML = 61.69 LSD - 18.105 (in mm, n=9, r=0.791, ML=1040-2020mm)

Tsunemi Kubodera(LSD).

The mantle length estimates are 1615 mm by TCL and 1709 mm by LSD. The head and arm portion ofArchiteuthis usually occupies 60-70% of the body length, so that this animal would have been
approximately 4.7 m in length from tip of fin to tips of normal arms and over 8 m in total length including
the long tentacles (assuming that the 6 m long recovered tentacle portion was severed at its base).
From fresh tissue obtained form the severed tentacle, a 1276 bp sequence of mtDNA COI gene was
extracted(Carlini and Graves, 1999; Kano and Kase, 2004). This sequence had a 99.7-100% match with thesequence extracted from five intact Architeuthis specimens collected around Japanese waters (Kubodera,
2004)

I-2 New Fndings
Our knowledge of Architeuthis biology and ecology is very scarce. Studies on the giant squids havebeen poor, based only on a few dead or dying animals that have been washed ashore or on badly damaged
animals caught by trawl net. Histological studies suggested that Architeuthis would be a sluggish, neutrally
buoyant squid due to having numerous tiny vesicles filed with an ammonia solution within their flesh,enabling them to obtain neutral buoyancy in the deep-sea. These tiny vesicles make muscle flabby andArchiteuthis had been considered to have poor swimming ability (Clarke et al., 1979; Roper and Boss,
1982; Hanlon and Messenger, 1996; Norman, 2000; Nixon and Young, 2003). The long tentacles
characteristic of Architeuthis are also flabby and thin, leading biologists to consider that giant squid might
dangle their tentacles below to capture prey below (O'Shea, pers. com.).
Our research obtained sequential still images of a live giant squid's hunting behavior andcrisis-response in its natural environment, making it possible to add new information on Architeuthi
behavior and ecology that had previously been only speculation:
・ Giant squids hunt at 900 m during the day.
・ Giant squids are much more active predators than previously thought and appear to attack their preyfrom a horizontal orientation.
・ Giant squid can retract their long tentacles once a prey has been captured.
・ The tentacles appear to coil into an irregular ball in much the same way that pythons rapidly envelop

28their prey within coils of their body immediately after striking.
・ The tentacles are clearly not weak fishing lines dangling below the body over 4 hours.
・ The squid can break off its tentacle by itself.
The new findings were summarized in a scientific paper and published in the Proceedings of the Royalsociety B on 28 September, 2005 (Kubodera and Mori, 2005).
Tsunemi Kubodera

II. Years 2003-2005: Compact Movie Recorder System
In order to study and clarify behavior and biology of the deep-sea large squids more precisely, in2003 we developed and assembled a compact underwater digital movie camera system, again incooperation with Little Leonardo Co. (Figs. 18 a-b). This system consisted of three pressure-resistantcylinders measuring 77 mm in diameter and 225 mm in length. The three cylinders were combined with
two supporting plates. The central cylinder contained a movieacamera which could take 15 frames (768 kbps) of MPEG4
images per second (Panasonic, SV-AV30). Both side
cylinders contained a DC light (Panasonic, VZ-LDD9, 10W),
and camera and lights were controlled on and off with built-in
timers. This system was hung at the end of a main line alongwith bait rigs attached, similar to the digital camera system.
We had deployed 8 times without success (at600-800 m depth) during 2003-2005, at the same researcharea of the Ogasawara Islands.

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Fig. 18. A compact underwater digital movie
camera system developed in 2003,
a: a view from below, (Photo by K. Mori)We thought that the main reasons for our previousbfailures were: 1) low light sensitivity of the movie camera;2) insufficient light intensity of the DC lights. To provide
enough light to take movies at bait rigs, it was necessary toshorten the rig line considerably (to 1-1.5 m) from thecamera frame. The narrow angle of the camera lens as well
as low resolution of images at low light intensity were also
problems to be solved.

Fig. 18. b: system with bait rigs. (Photo by K. Mori)

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camera system that often placed the bait rigs outside of theIII. Year 2005: High Definition Video Camera System
Our success at capturing still images of a live giant squid in 2004 drove NHK (Japan Broadcasting
Corporation), which had earlier filmed our research activities, to promote the project of filming a realmovie of a giant squid in the wild. With their financial support, we developed a new underwater highdefinition video camera system in cooperation with Goto Aquatics Co. in 2005. The basic concept was thesame as for the compact movie recorder system, consisting of three pressure-resistant cylinders measuring
216 mm in diameter and 500 mm in length. The central cylinder contained a high definition video camera(Sony, HDR-FX1) which came on the market in 2004. Considering defects of the compact movie-camera
system, a fish eye lens was attached to the video cameraaand put on dome-shaped glass shield in front of thecylinder to cover the wide angle of the lens. A strong
halogen light (24V, 150W) was set in each side cylinders.
The three cylinders were mounted on a stainless steel
frame horizontally (Fig. 19a) and a 2.2 m glass fiber pole
was attached obliquely from the frame. A bait rig wassuspended from the tip of the pole with a 1.5m line,
weighted with a pencil-shaped underwater torch (ca 15bcm). Therefore, differing from the vertical angle of theprevious systems, this camera took movies horizontally.
The entire system weighed nearly 170 kg in air. Two large
floats were attached to the frame to reduce its weight inwater (Fig. 19b). In order to examine the effects ofdifferent lighting colors, blue and/or red filters wereattached to the main halogen lights on some deployments.
From September to October in 2005, we conducted
total of 26 deployments in the same area as our previous
giant squid investigation off Ogasawara Islands. Eight,

Fig.19. A new underwater high definition video
camera system developed in 2005, a:camera system on deck, b: systemwith pole and bait rig.

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were conducted by the R/V "Natsuhsima", Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology, 16 by
the R/V "Koyo", Ogasawara Fisheries Center and 2 by the F/V "Youdai-Maru" Ogasawara Fishermen's
Union. The camera system was suspended in mid-water at designated depths of 800-950 m for 1-2 h andoccasionally recovered with stops at intermediate depths for 30-40 min before retrieval. The depth at which
video footage was taken was monitored by a digital depth-temperature recorder attached to the system.
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III-1 Filming of hunting behavior and bioluminescence of Taningia danae
Although we had no luck filming the giant squid, we could obtain high definition video footage ofswimming and hunting behavior as well as bioluminescence of the large deep-sea eight-armed squid,
Taningia danae, during 12 out of 26 deployments. T. danae is also known to be one of the hugemesopelagic squids distributed widely in the tropical and subtropical world oceans. The largest hitherto
reported was a mature female of 1.32 m in mantle length, weighing 124 kg, caught by fisheries trawl net ineastern Atlantic (Gonzalez et al., 2003). T. danae has a heavy conical mantle with large thick triangular finsand eight relatively short equal-length arms with biserial strong hooks. The feeding tentacles degenerate intheir very early stage of life, thus adults lack both tentacles, so T. danae is classified in the taxonomic
family Octopoteuthidae. The most dramatic character of this species is having extremely large oval
photophores on the distal dorsolateral arms. The photophores are cream-white in color and usually coveredby thin, dark epidermal lids (Figs. 20 a,b). Observation on a young individual caught by mid-water trawlabFig. 20. Deep-sea large eight armed squid, Taningia danae, a: ventral view of the specimen from the stomach
contents of sperm whale (scale:50cm), b: a large oval photophore on the distal dorsolateral arm.

net kept in a shipboard aquarium revealed that when it was stimulated, bright flashes of brilliant blue-green
light emitted simultaneously from both arm-tip photophores (Roper and Vecchione, 1993).
Although full-grown Taningia danae have rarely been captured by research trawl net, large numberof their beaks have been reported from the stomach contents of sperm whales, from which T. danae wasestimated to have a huge potential biomass in the deep-sea (Clarke, 1980; Clarke and MacLeod, 1982). The
same as the giant squid, T. danae has numerous tiny vesicles filed with ammonia solution within their flesh
that make muscle flabby, and T. danae had also been suggested to have poor swimming ability (Clarke etal., 1979; Hanlon and Messenger, 1996; Norman, 2000; Nixon and Young, 2003). But no observation on31

adult T. danae in its natural environments had previously been made and knowledge of their wild habitats
and behavior was extremely limited.

III-2 New Findings
Vertical distribution and dial migration: Ontogenetic descent from the surface to depths of 200-300

have been suggested to live at depths of over 1000 m based on the foraging depths of their main predators,
sperm whales and deep-sea sharks (Clarke and Merrett, 1972; Clarke, 1977). Our camera took video
footage of T. danae around 600-900m during the day and around 240-500 m at night, indicating that T.

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m by juvenile and young T. danae (6-15 mm ML) has been reported (Roper and Vecchione, 1993). Adults

danae appears to undertake short distance diel vertical migrations.
Swimming behavior and ability: Our video camera recorded T. danae swimming freely bothforward (head and arms forefront) and backward (fin tip forefront) by flapping the large and musculartriangular fins (Fig. 21a-h). When swimming, all arms were joined together to reduce water resistance. It
was also recorded that T. danae rapidly changed direction by flexibly bending its body. Fin movement of T.
danae, used to generate forward propulsion, is similar to that of rays, Dasyatidae. Although rays can only
swim forward smoothly, T. danae can reveres fin undulation to generate backward propulsion. Thisswimming method is different from common squids that generate propulsion by pumping their mantles toeject water from the funnel. Undulation of large fins for swimming has advantages over jet propulsion, inthat it generates the same acceleration power for either direction, without the pumping pause and isconsidered to be more efficient locomotion with less energy than jet propulsion.
Based on the video footage that shows T. danae swimming straight forward to the bait rigs, thisindividual moved 2-2.5 m in a second with a one cycle of fin undulation. By comparing it size with that of
the bait squid, this individual was more than 1 m in total length. Attack speed of T. danae of this size wasestimated to reach 7.2-9 km/h. Up to now, mesopelagic large squids containing ammonium solutions intissue had been considered neutrally-buoyant, sluggish inhabitants, but our video footage revealed for the
first time that they are truly active and are great swimmers. According to the presentation by Miller in thisSymposium, recent research on sperm-whale diving behavior using a bio-logger shows they frequently
make an abrupt dash, attaining over 9 km/h during their deep dives. In those cases, sperm whales might bechasing such large squids like T. danae in the deep.

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a

b

c

d

e

f

g

h

Fig. 21. Forward and backward swimming of Taningia. danae, a: holding up fins dorsally, b: moving down
anterior edge of fins, c: wrapping whole fins ventrally, d: moving up anterior border of fins, upward
movement of lateral and posterior portions of fins, e: holding up fins dorsally, f: turn a somersault
quickly, g: change direction to backward, h: rush backward with holding fins tightly. (By courtesy of NHK)
Hunting behavior and bioluminescence: From 14 observations on T. danae approaching bait rigs,
we recognized three different attack behaviors. The first behavior was observed twice in white light

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b

c

d

Tsunemi KuboderaaeFig. 22. Hunting behavior and bioluminescence, a: approaching with a little distance from the bait, b: emitting ashort strong flash from arm-tip photophores, c: stopping light emission, d: turning the body abruptly tothe bait, e: holding the bait from behind with all arms. (By courtesy of NHK)conditions and twice in blue light. This behavior involved: 1) swimming forward spreading all arms
widely; 2) passing by within a little distance from the bait; 3) emitting a short strong flash from arm-tip
photophores (1.2-1.6 s); 4) stopping light emission and turning the body abruptly to the bait; 5) holding thebait from behind with all arms; 6) swimming away backward, detaching the bait from the hook (Fig.
22a-d). This method of attack is considered to be typical hunting behavior for their suitable prey in thewild. The emission of light just before attacking may work as a blinding flash for the prey, as well as ameans of illumination and measuring the target distance in an otherwise dark environment. This emission
was stopped in a twinkling and followed by rapid turning of the body to attack the bait from behind. This
motion might cause the prey to mistake the true direction of the attack in the dark. It is a very cleversurprise-attack strategy using bioluminescence. Close-up movies showed that T. danae leaned its body34

Tsunemi Kubodera

a

b

c

d

Fig. 23. Close up images of attacking the bait, a: approaching the bait with spreading all arms, b: catching thebait with ventral and ventrolateral arms, c: turning flexibly its body, d: holding the whole bait with allarms. (By courtesy of NHK)when approaching the bait and caught the bait with ventral and ventrolateral arms, then flexibly turned its
body to hold the whole bait with all of its arms (Fig. 23a-d). (Common squids have two tentacles, each one
between the ventral and ventrolateral arms.)
The second behavior was observed twice in white light, once in red light and once in blue light
conditions. This behavior was involved: 1) swimming forward; 2) extending all arms with a relatively long
flash of light (2.1-2.2 s); 3) colliding with the rig line or torch light straight forward without turning thebody. This behavior was hard to define but may be due to reflection of the nylon monofilament line and/or
the connecting swivel, which might attract or dazzle the squid. This long flash seemed to be a precautionary
signal used by the squid when approaching unidentified objects.
The third behavior was observed three times in blue light conditions. This behavior involved: 1)
swimming forward; 2) extending all arms; 3) occasionally swimming around the bait (once out of 3
observations); 3) banging hard at the light straight forward (Fig. 24a-e). Blue light seemed provocative.
Attacking the blue-filtered halogen light might be an aggressive behavior against potential adversaries.
The most interesting behavior was bioluminescence without attack and was observed four times in
red light conditions. This behavior involved: 1) swimming forward, approaching the bait while emitting along glow (4.4-8.5 sec.); 2) keeping a certain distance from the bait; 3) emitting several short glows
separated by intervals, maintaining a short space between photophores; 4) extinguishing the light andswimming away (Fig. 25a-e). We propose that the light given off by the double-torch lights may resemble
the long glows of the arm-tip photophores of T. danae and may attract them, eliciting long glows when35

approaching. Short glows were emitted when investigating the double-torch lights but in the absence of an
appropriate response the squid moved on. This is the first movie recorded conspecific communication withbioluminescence among deep-sea squids in the wild.

b

c

d

Tsunemi KuboderaaeFig. 24. Blue-filtered halogen light attacking behavior, a: approaching the bait with spreading all arms, b-d:
swimming around the bait, e: straight forward to the light. (By courtesy of NHK)36

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a

b

c

d

e

Fig. 25. Bioluminescence without attacking, a-b: approaching the bait while emitting a long glow, c-d: emitting
several short glows, maintaining a short space between photophores. (By courtesy of NHK)Light conditions and effect of torch light: Many mesopelagic squids possess eyes which arecharacterized by having a single visual pigment with peak absorbance at 480 nm wavelength (Seido et al.
1990); because of blue light penetrate water the deepest. Therefore T. danae has high sensitivity of vision
only in a blue light spectrum. We applied two strong halogen lights (150W) for lighting and T. danae
recognized bait squid/mackerel as suitable prey under such artificial light conditions and successfully
hunted. In some cases, strong white light caused erroneous responses. Strong blue light may cause
overexposure in their high blue sensitivity, which may explain aggressive attacks on the blue-filteredhalogen light.
On the other hand, T. danae has no sensitivity of vision in red light spectrum. Therefore
observations in red light condition would appear natural behavior in the dark environment that made it
possible to record gentle forward and backward swimming around the bait rigs as well as conspecificcommunication with bioluminescence. The faint blue light from the torch may have been less visible under37

strong white and blue halogen light so that T. danae was unable to recognize it. It was only in the red light
conditions that they appeared to interact with the torch lights, as a potential form of bioluminescentcommunication.
The new findings were summarized in a scientific paper and published in First Cite e-publishing

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from the Proceedings of the Royal society B on 13 February, 2007 (Kubodera et al., 2007).

IV. And then Year 2006
During the course of our research on deep-sea large squids off Ogasawara Islands in 2006, an
individual of Architeuthis was brought to the surface when we retrieved a research vertical long line hungdown about 650 m depth at about 15 miles northeastern off Otohto-jima Island on 4 December, 2006. The
giant squid was still alive, holding a neon flying squid of about 55 cm in mantle length with its long arms.
Probably, neon flying squid was first hooked on the jig when it attacked the bait squid (Japanese common
squid of ca. 25 cm mantle length) and when it became enfeebled the giant squid attacked it and several longarms were hooked on the squid jig while holding the neon flying squid (Fig. 26a-c).
At the surface, the giant squid waved its long arms and ejected a large volume of sea water
repeatedly form the thick funnel to escape from the jig. Judging from the force of the water ejection, it
would have a considerable swimming power when disturbed. Our suggestion proposed in 2004 that “thegiant squid is much more active predator than previously thought based on still images taken by 30 sinterval” was reinforced by the present video footage. The body color was reddish purple on the dorsal

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surface and silvery white on the ventral surface. Itawas extremely beautiful when seen alive.
After observing and recording video of the
giant squid at the surface, we tried to retrieve thegiant squid on board for scientific specimen but
there was a crew of only three including myself
Tsunemi Kubodera

and we had a serious trouble. One guy dove into
sea with a blanket and lap the giant squid withbblanket then we pulled it on the board by using all
our strength. Epidermis of the giant squid wasvery loose and most part of them were peeled off
when retrieving. Posterior portion of mantle wasalso damaged with a hand-hook. This individual
measured about 1.4 m in mantle length and 3.5 mfrom tip of fin to tip of the longest arm on board.

cBoth long feeding tentacles characteristics of the
giant squid had been tear off at the base. Judging
from the recovery of cutting surface, it would lose
the tentacle fairly a long time ago. In addition,
several arm tips were also damaged. The giant
squid hooked up was far form healthy condition.
An immature ovary which came out from theinjured mantle indicated it was a young female. It
weighed nearly 50 kg when we landed it at fishing
port.

Fig. 26. The giant squid fished in alive and brought
to the surface off Ogasawara Islands in
2006, a: holding a neon flying squid hookedon the jig, b: strong water ejection, c:dorsal view of the animal.

VI. Significance of the present observation
The giant squid has been occasionally fished by local fishermen in the waters off Okinawa Islands
and Ogasawara Islands. Photos of hooked up giant squid at the surface off Okinawa are available throughthe internet (Hashimoto:http://homepage1. nifty.com/ozok/kimamana-ryounisshi.htm). Thus fishing up the
giant squid was not for the first time but it was significant that we have recorded all the details of appearing
the giant squid at the surface and its hard fighting at the surface by high definition video camera from theboat. Although it was far from natural condition for the giant squid, this would be the first movie to record
actual fighting behavior of live giant squid.
Following lines summarize new findings of giant squid behaviors and ecology figured out from thepresent observation as well as questions and future subjects arisen through our research.

39

Giant squid is distributed in 650-900 m depth and searching prey during the day in the water off
Ogasawara Islands. This depth range agrees the occurrence of Taningia danae and also overlaps
with the diving depth of sperm whales. It is safe to say that sperm whales dive to feed on these hugemesopelagic squids, but observation of the interaction between sperm whales and large squids innatural environment requires further development of new under-water visual equipments and also

Giant squid can capture prey with arms even in the condition when it has lost both feeding tentacles.
This is an answer for the question that I have received after 2004 publication that “ Can giant squid
survive after loosing one tentacle?” But, when and how the present giant squid had lost both

Tsunemi Kubodera

the research project which stands on new point of view.

tentacles and such an injured individual could survive whole life span until spawning are remainedin questions.



Giant squid attacked live neon flying squid (55 cm ML) hooked on squid jig and also fed on deadJapanese common squid (22 cm ML) attached squid jig in 2004. Available information on feeding
habits of giant squids is very limited and only relatively small rat-tail fishes and squids have beenreported for their prey (Perez-Gandarez and Guerra, 1978; Forch, 1998). Adult neon flying squids
are nearly as large as one third of giant squids and very active. It is remained in question that thegiant squids were able to feed on healthy neon flying squid in the wild. It is probable that the giant
squid attacked enfeebled neon flying squid hooked on squid jig. Concerning to the feeding habits ofthe giant squid, detailed study on stomach contents from healthy individuals is badly needed.

Swimming method of giant squid depends mainly on water ejection from the funnel as same as mostcommon squids. Judging from the force of the water ejection and volume of the water ejected, giant
squids would have a considerable swimming ability. Based on the video footage analysis, we aregoing to clarify detailed swimming behavior of giant squid, such as propulsive power and maximum
swimming speed, by computer simulation.

Body color of live giant squid was reddish purple on the dorsal surface and silvery white on theventral surface. This body color pattern is a characteristic common to most animals living inshallow waters into which the sun light penetrates and is explained as a camouflage against lighteror darker backgrounds for the predators which look up or down to search prey. The nearest ancestorof giant squid would be a shallow water inhabitant and the giant squid itself would have been on theprocess of adapting the deep-sea environments. Further studies from this view point are essential.

VI. Prospective
By means of using under-water visual equipment, we have obtained invaluable images and video
footage of large deep-sea squids, Architeuthis and Taningia. This has increased our understanding of the
behavior and ecology of these deep-sea large squids. But our knowledge of deep-sea large squids is still
fragmentally and their ways of lives in the wild still remain mysteries.
This type of research needs specialists for developing the gear as well as kind cooperation with40

people in various research fields. Needless to say, research money to support such surveys is critical. We
have obtained research funding from Japanese Society for Promotion of Science (JSPS), for three years
between 2006 and 2008. Based on collaboration with related people and research funding from JSPS, we
will continue to investigate the biology and ecology of deep-sea large squids around Japanese waters bydeveloping new under-water visual equipment at least until 2008.
Tsunemi Kubodera

Acknowledgments: I thank K. Mori, Y. Isobe, Y. Hirayama, H. Yamamoto, K. Inamoto, Y. Koyama, E.
Kono and K. Yamaguchi for assistance in field surveys; Y. Naito, K. Sato and A. Kato for lending remotecamera systems; M. Suzuki and M. Goto for developing gear; M. Amano and K. Aoki for discussion of
sperm whale diving behavior and T. Ogo for DNA analysis. Special thanks go to T. Ura and his team,
University of Tokyo; Captain F. Saito and crew of the R/V Natsushima, JAMSTEC; Captain I. Gonoi andcrew of the R/V Koy, Ogasawara Fisheries Center for their great efforts in conducting field surveys. M.
Norman, C.C. Lu, T. Okutani, K. Phillips and T. Tregenza gave us invaluable comments and suggestions on
preparing the manuscript. This work was partially supported by a grant from the JSPS and NHK (Japan
Broadcasting Corporation).

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