A brand new kind of large squid has been found by researchers while voyaging around on a research cruise in the southern part of the Indian Ocean.
This large squid, almost a meter long, belongs to the chiroteuthid family.
The squid which form a part of this family are long and thin, and have organs which produce light. The light producing organs help them attract their meals.
This large squid was discovered during an analysis of thousands of different samples which were brought in from the Seamounts cruise last year. The cruise is being led by a conservation group known as IUCN.
The project began a year ago when experts in the area of marine biology set out on a six week science expedition in the Indian Ocean.
The aim of the expedition was to shed some light on the mysterious seamounts – mountains under the water – located in the southern part of the Indian Ocean, and to help manage marine resources and improve conservation plans in the area.
“For 10 days now 21 scientists armed with microscopes have been working through intimidating rows of jars containing fishes, squids, zooplankton and other interesting creatures,” explains a spokesperson of the Department of Zoology at the University of Oxford, Alex Rogers.
“Many specimens look similar to each other and we have to use elaborate morphological features such as muscle orientation and gut length to differentiate between them.”