Giant Squid Filmed At Japanese Marina (wsj.com)

overThruster writes: The Wall Street Journal reports: "The rare sight of a giant squid swimming inside a marina was captured on video on the coast of the Sea of Japan. According to a manager at the Mizuhashi Fisherina in Toyama prefecture, about 250 kilometers northwest of Tokyo, one fisherman found a 3.7-meter (12.1-foot) giant squid swimming beneath fishing boats docked at the marina on the morning of Dec. 24." The extraordinary close up video taken by divers shows the giant squid's natural coloration as well as the action of its siphon propelling it through the water. Additional footage here.

Comments

Natural coloration?

[damn_registrars]

If we expect this animal to spend most of its life living at greater depths, then something is likely amiss with it that is bringing it this near the surface. While this would likely be closer-to-natural for coloration than a dead one, I'm not sure that it is necessarily fully in its natural coloration, either.

Re:Natural coloration?

[Solandri]

The usual MO for these deep water species is to stay in deep water during the day for protection, and rise closer to the surface at night to feed (there being more stuff to eat per cubic meter closer to the surface). That works fine in the open ocean, but if they get too close to the shore it isn't exactly obvious which direction they need to swim to get back to the open ocean. This is especially true for harbors, which if you've ever gone boating is basically a man-made maze to block incoming waves and swells. It is very easy for a deep water animal to enter a harbor during its normal feeding cycle at night, then get stuck trying to find its way back to deeper water at day.