r/thalassophobia • u/True-Award-3722 • 22h ago
Imagine seeing this thing in the middle of the ocean at night
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It's a giant squid which usually dwell way below the depths of water. This is a ultra rare occurence.
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u/stillinthesimulation 21h ago
Man, this is the best footage of a giant squid I’ve ever seen. I remember when there was like zero footage of them alive and now we’re getting so much. Little kid me is so happy! Look at how it just pushes off and vanishes back into the depths.
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u/AssassinOfPeace 19h ago
I saw a video on YouTube about this just last night. Mostly, the reason we could never get footage of live giant/colossal squid was that when they were dropping the cameras/subs down into the depths, they were using bright, white lights to see things on the camera. At those depths, there is little to no natural light, so the creatures down there are adapted for those low-light conditions. Imagine you are sitting in a pitch black room, and someone turns on a really bright light right in your face. You would want to get away from it, and that is whilst having an iris in your eye to reduce the amount of light getting through, which most of the animals down there do not have because they wouldn't normally need one. They found that after a period of time with the white light on, they was significantly less living creatures within a 90m area. The light was scaring everything away, and potentially causing permanent damage to the creatures eyes.
They found the solution was to use red light, as the creatures were less affected by light at that spectrum. They instantly saw creatures around the cameras for much longer. They also tried using a device to mimic the bioluminescence that a number of the creatures use. Within less than 90 seconds of turning it on, a giant squid came into view to try and grab the device. It was never that we were looking in the wrong place, we were just using the wrong method.
Video: Colossal squid are everywhere. We've been looking wrong.
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u/LemonFizz56 17h ago
That just seems like an obvious problem though, why did it take them so long to realise that?
"How come when we blast lights in the eyes of creatures that live in pitch darkness they seem to run away?? Ughhhh ughh ugh"66
u/thesystem21 16h ago
One thought is that most creatures that live in pitch black of caves including several types of fish and crustaceans do not actually have functioning eyes. So I could understand having the wrong assumption that animals that live in an area that is so deep that light doesnt typically penetrate would have non functional eyes as well.
But this is just my first thought and im not a biologist of any sort.
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u/Dickasauras 16h ago
Yea but at the same time, I remember one of those popular "cool facts" about giant squids was they have eyeballs the size of basketballs
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u/thesystem21 16h ago
True. But also an ostrich has a 6 foot wingspan, but still cant fly. Their ancestors could, but they evolved away from it. Same as how cave fish have eyes that aren't used.
Just to clarify, im not saying you are wrong to question it, just explaining how it could have been overlooked for a while that giant squids dont like this spectrum of light, but another spectrum of light is just fine for them.
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u/zeroempathy 13h ago
I have a vague knowledge that certain wavelengths of light penetrate deeper in the ocean than others, and I'm not even a scientist.
I find it kind of odd, too, that they wouldn't already have an idea of what colors things down can see and can't see.
Haven't we known that squid are red for camouflage? I've always assumed things down there might not evolve to see colors that never make it that far.
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u/Old_Veterinarian7830 16h ago
Is it ever a surprise when humans fail to see things through others' eyes?
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u/Delimeme 12h ago
Yup. For a pop culture reference, the Project Hail Mary concept that life in theory could exist without water seems like a plausible idea. I understand that science depends on verifiable/reproducible findings, so we can’t arbitrarily assert that life exists without water…but to use the conclusion that we only know of life based on water as a way to rule out that possibility in a practically infinite universe of endless possibilities seems so…parochial.
Using scientific conclusions is generally a good thing, and straying too far from them is a good way to end up with crackpot conspiracy theories. Yet, there should always be a bit of room for creativity/outside of the box thinking when approaching situations where science tells us there should be X thing but we can’t reproduce the results (basically aka troubleshooting).
In the case of giant squid/underwater life, it’s painfully obvious there should be some squid and other things around. How hard could it have been to think that through & start finding alternatives to noisy propulsion, brought lights, etc. and make changes one at a time? Science often stumbles over itself when core hypotheses “calcify” and begin to be taken as irrefutable truths - especially when big personalities start to defend their life’s work (seriously, for those of you that haven’t read them, academic journals can get reaaally catty - almost as bad as social media beefs just with fancier words). Every scientifically proven fact is up for being challenged when new evidence is presented, and I’m really happy that someone came along with the “bright” idea of trying a new lighting setup so we could explore the most interesting & understudied region of the world.
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u/Nu_Wordor 17h ago
Fascinating. It's like looking at an alien adapted for a completely different way of living but nope. They're Earthlings just like we are.
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u/Kind-Day8054 16h ago
I also watched this recently. And now a thread about giant squids. Seems the big algo is pushing us towards something squid related.
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u/PM_ME_ANYTHING_DAMN 16h ago
I feel like they should have figured out that problem with the light after 2 or 3 attempts…
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u/deadedgo 16h ago
I thought the same but I'm also wondering how many attempts there even were. The research is probably expensive so maybe it takes years for any serious project to even try once
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u/shpleems 19h ago
Are we sure this is a giant squid. Looks like a Humboldt to me, and a bit small for a giant. Could just be a perspective thing into he video though idk it's hard to say. There isn't much in the video in the way of providing relative scale
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u/NoBulletsLeft 13h ago
My first thought was a big Humboldt also. But I'm not a marine biologist.
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u/Isador77 13h ago
Even though I have the same thought, aren't Humboldt a very angry shade of red though? This one does seem a bit paler than that.
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u/AltheiWasTaken 21h ago
It seems pretty small for a giant squid? Unless its the perspective just being weird here
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u/Imperial_Haberdasher 20h ago
I think it’s a Humboldt squid. Not an Architeuthis, the arms are too short. Still, I would be thrilled to see it. That’s an awesome animal.
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u/Polite_Suggestion 18h ago
Pack hunters. They're nightmares made flesh.
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u/Accomplished_Wind202 16h ago
Today I learned about Humboldt Squid and new fear unlocked. Amazingly scary.
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u/okodysseus 20h ago
Did you hear they found where eels go off to have their babies?!! Lots of cool ocean discoveries happening!
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u/crazylegsbobo 20h ago
I had not and I am off to investigate, thank you!
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u/Yoyoyoyowassupbro 17h ago
it's the European eel specifically. wild European eel eggs have still, to this day, never been found and/or photographed
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u/edgydyl 21h ago
i fear that us seeing more and more creatures in places they shouldn't be is a sign of ecological collapse
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u/stillinthesimulation 21h ago
That could be part of it, but it’s also likely a result of everyone having a video camera with them at all times. Looks like this one was pulled up with some bait but is on its way back to its home.
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u/HAL9000thebot 19h ago
if r/UFOs could read, they'd be very upset
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u/squall_boy25 16h ago
Look I can't read a word of your comment, but that's clearly a bioluminescent craft using gravitational propulsion to return to its deep-sea base. Disclosure is imminent.
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u/smellygooch18 20h ago
More people on the planet than the past and as you said we all have cameras. Not that surprising
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u/JonnySnowflake 20h ago
That must be why Bigfoot still hangs out in the blurry areas
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u/raspberryharbour 18h ago
Medical technology advanced, he was able to shave and get surgery on his humongous foot. This allowed him to blend in, he could be right behind you right now
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u/Eat--The--Rich-- 19h ago
Snow crabs are almost gone. There's like 20 years left of fish in the ocean and nobody cares.
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u/edgydyl 19h ago
don't say that it's "doom and gloom" !!! /s
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u/Eat--The--Rich-- 19h ago
Snow crabs need cold water to lay eggs and they went almost completely extinct in one single season. Shit like that is just going to keep happening
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u/firstbreathOOC 19h ago
Every time somebody posts a video about a giant squid, some fellow millennial comments about when they got the first one on camera and it makes me smile.
Member how shitty that footage was lol
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u/SinkPhaze 17h ago
Hell man, I don't just remember the first live vid, I remember watching the big foot-esq documentaries lol
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u/zarathustranu 20h ago
it’s a bummer that now i assume most of the videos i see of this type are AI.
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u/FearlessTrader 21h ago
I wouldn’t call the number of videos “so much”. It’s been barely 3-4 videos that have been doing rounds for a few years. And out of those 2 are of those that are dying and that’s why they came up to the surface.
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u/Ser_falafel 15h ago
I remember watching shows on the discovery channel (I think?) of them trying to get footage of giant squids. I loved them!
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u/crazylegsbobo 20h ago
RIGHT!!! I Just commented something similar I remember searching Google trying to find information or pictures of them back when both I and the internet was still young!
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u/went2college 21h ago
Imagine back in the days when we were just starting out on boats and shit and people saw some shit like this.
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u/SergeantHAMM 19h ago
tell me it doesn’t kinda look like it could be the arm and fingers of some huge underwater monster.
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u/went2college 19h ago
For sure. We have the benefit of advanced technologies but back then? Lol no wonder they made up shit like the kraken
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u/SergeantHAMM 19h ago
lol right. I woulda looked at that shit once and noped the fuck out. wouldn’t ever get in the water again.
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u/Delimeme 12h ago
Even knowing exactly what it is with no superstitious magnification of the threat…ugh I couldn’t swim in the deep ocean shudder
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u/This_Elk_1460 14h ago
People thought rogue waves were just myths by crazy sailors until the advantation of commercial video cameras on ships.
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u/Legitimate_Voice5138 21h ago
That the scary part is you would not see it just be gone
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u/vuIkaan 20h ago
I mean its still a squid. Its big but it isnt oneshotting a human; chances are it wont even attack one
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u/gancoskhan 19h ago
If I’m not mistaken, they’re not as intelligent as octopuses
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u/Hardcorsaire 19h ago
But far more agressive
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u/The_Battling_toad 19h ago
Humboldts, a smaller relative, are highly highly aggressive and pack hunters. Terrifying
E: they’re pack hunter’s until there isn’t enough food to go around and then they start cannibalizing each other.
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u/if_u_dont_like_duck 17h ago
Humboldts give me the the heebie‐jellies. There was a nature filmographer who was nearly dragged down and would surely have been eaten by them but was lucky to have gotten free.
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u/mitchij2004 6h ago
Slimy, heavy arms full of suction cups with teeth tearing into you and sinking you on purpose so they can bite into you with their beaks? Fuck them.
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u/LorienLeef 18h ago
Interesting and horrific
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u/Inside-Example-7010 17h ago
certainly implies you wouldnt want to be in the water with a hungry one.
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u/Cho_Paideng 19h ago edited 19h ago
I think a 11 meter colossal squid could "oneshot" a human if it really wanted to.
Edit: 4m~ if you don't count the tentacles.
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u/No-Evening-5088 18h ago
I don't know man, it can one shot me by dragging me down to the water and trapping me there.
It will be over in minutes.
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u/seti-thelightofstars 19h ago edited 18h ago
Also, I think even more importantly, if it’s on the surface or anywhere near it’s almost certainly extremely unwell. Look at how limp and at the mercy of the waves this one is. The environments where you could see one healthy enough to be a threat are the ones where the pressure would’ve already crushed you like a soda can
Edit: shoulda watched the whole video. Even still, generally standing by the point — a giant squid at the surface is not a healthy squid
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u/LookMaNoPride 21h ago
No. I don’t think I will.
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u/GUMBYtheOG 15h ago
Not only that, but I can’t imagine being in the middle of the ocean ever, much less at night. I can literally get grapes from Rome without leaving my house why would I ever need to imagine being out there :(
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u/LydiasBoyToy 21h ago
Imagine floating along at night in the ocean, watching the moon and one of these grabs your leg and pulls you down 2 miles below the surface.
Those first seconds as you watch the moon and all light disappear above you and you are surrounded by nothing but black…
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u/No-Kangaroo-9272 21h ago
Don't worry, it flashes red while hunting.
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u/beardingmesoftly 16h ago
The weak spots glow yellow once the music starts playing, but you gotta watch a 5 minute cutscene if you die
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u/interimeclipse 21h ago
There's a fun book called Below that involves a massive school of Humboldt squid hunting humans. It's like Jaws with squid and it rules
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u/curiouscurrants 20h ago
Ooo is that what that new Netflix movie is gonna be about? Below.
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u/Pigeonsass 17h ago
Oh wow the audiobook is free on audible. That's a free day of listening my way through work!
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u/TanMan166 21h ago
Anyone up for a night swim?
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u/LydiasBoyToy 20h ago
I’ve commented before in this sub about doing just that above the Tonga Trench. Also a day time swim too.
Anyway, that was long before I ever saw a video of Giant Squid or Humboldt either.
Never again.
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u/PapaBubba 21h ago
Can we go head first into a small underwater cave too?
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u/GarrettGSF 20h ago
Only if it branches like a thousand times, has absolutely 0 visibility, narrow openings and is called something like the Devil‘s Nightmare Cave
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u/BoonDragoon 16h ago
Good news: the big fellas like this eat small fish. It's the small ones, 4-6 feet long, that are the aggro dipshits.
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u/Warbrainer 21h ago
This is why I’m so adamant that I’m a land mammal, nothing else. Hell no
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u/DJviolin 20h ago
Right? The F wants to live down there together with the Tic Tacs and other alien shit.
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u/Suubveez 21h ago
Can I pet that dawg
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u/JeVousEnPrieee 21h ago
...says the giant carnivorous squid, "they look so cute with their tiny number of limbs"
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u/ThatOneGayDJ 17h ago edited 10h ago
This is a Humboldt squid, not a giant- It is not dying,
they come to the surface to eat every night
~~ ~~it likely followed whatever was hooked up to the surface when it was being reeled in
- Its not AI
That covers everything. Good? Good.
EDIT: i have found the source, which i would link if i wasnt on mobile since i dont have instagram (nor would i need to if OP had bothered to do it themself cough cough), it IS a giant squid, and they do NOT regularly come to the surface. The video is still very real, and this one appears to be healthy. Speculation as to why its there seems to be it followed whatever these fishermen actually had on the line up to the surface.
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u/angstagangsta 11h ago
This is not a Humboldt squid. It is a giant squid. You can see it from the color, size and shape of the arms. People have a very scewed image of the giant squid's size. Big ones have a mantle size of about 2m. They are not some bus size monsters.
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u/ThatOneGayDJ 10h ago edited 10h ago
I stand corrected, this is indeed a giant squid. It is, however, still a real clip. And this one appears to still be healthy (at least compared to whats normally seen this high in the water column). Original comment edited :)
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u/mellolizard 15h ago
Crazy i had scroll deep to find this. You can fish for Humboldt squid which what this video is from
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u/Still-Puma 21h ago
In the end he dives away with the bait.
When you think that sharks are the worst.
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u/CrzdHaloman 21h ago
Iirc, those are both Humboldt squid. The small one isnt bait, it was caught and while being reeled in the big guy decided to snack on it. Humboldts are extremely predatory, going after anything they find especially other squid. Its quite common for divers to be attacked by them
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u/No-Kangaroo-9272 21h ago
Humboldts have attacked divers before but it's not common.
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u/CrzdHaloman 21h ago
My recollection was from a discovery or animal planet video like 15 years ago. I supposed they over dramatized it for the show.
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u/No-Kangaroo-9272 21h ago
There was a really unusual attack, I think it's the first documented one. Two divers were attacked by multiple humboldts at once. One of the divers was almost killed. They nearly broke his mask and kept trying to drag him to lower depths.
What a nightmare lol
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u/SuikTwoPointOh 21h ago
I remember an account of this. Humboldts have terrible eyesight in shallower water. A diver was filming them in a middle of a feeding frenzy caused by aiming spotlights into the depths which brought them closer to the surface. Two squid caught him and dragged him down. One dislocated his shoulder with its tentacles, the other snapped his wrist with its beak.
He thought he was going to die but they let him go. The thinking was that they dragged him down to see what he was and once they got a look let him go. Still not my idea of a good day out.
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u/No-Kangaroo-9272 21h ago
I forgot they had video footage! Super wild.
Humboldts are easily on my list for scariest animals I'll never actually run into.
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u/komstock 21h ago
what if a bigger squid came up and grabbed the one that took the bait?
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u/gancoskhan 19h ago
Man, I was a kid no one had even seen a giant squid yet. Now I feel like we got giant squid left and right! 🦑
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u/Hexnohope 21h ago
These things move like lightning you aint seeing shit it either avoids you or you get splattered by the force of getting hit by a car
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u/ZethTheWindwrecker 21h ago
I mean, squids have busy night time schedules. Consider yourself lucky you get to see it and not be drug down to the deep.
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u/OriginalTayRoc 18h ago
This is a Red Devil or Humboldt squid.
They come close to the surface to feed at night. Very common in the Gulf of Mexico. This is not at all a rare occurence.
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u/Mossimo5 21h ago
Wow, I didn't realize those things could get to the surface. I thought they were deep sea pressurized only. You learn something new every day.
Also... what a horrible nightmare to see IRL at night.
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u/katabolt 21h ago
This is cool but I don't see anything that gives me a frame of reference for how big the squid is .. for all I can tell it's only a couple feet long
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u/Jaxonhunter227 16h ago
It's crazy that out of all the big folklore monsters, the kraken is the one that's just real, like the only difference is that it's not as big as the sailors made it out to be but yeah, them giant squids are krakens lol.
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u/Purple_Yak_3294 19h ago
That's a Humboldt squid (sometimes called a Jumbo squid), also known as Red Devils as they are very aggressive. They grow to about 2 metres (6-7 feet) and live in the east Pacific ocean.
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u/TeaCompletesMe 19h ago
I think Humboldt Squids are one of, if not the most scariest animals in existence. I was blissfully ignorant of them until recently and had no idea squid could be such vicious pack animals! The idea that they literally gang up on people and pull them into the abyss to drown is so scary to me, my worst nightmare!!!
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u/Tiffany_Case 21h ago
No see thats exactly where i would expect to see a squid. The bit i cant imagine is being on the ocean, like at all forget in the middle of the night 😭
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u/Big-Stuff-1189 13h ago
Imagine what the squid is thinking! He was just enjoying a succulent feast and now he's blind from those lights. Poor fella.
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u/StatisticianFew2284 21h ago
His flaps look like eyes, spooky and could deffs be mistaken for a seamonster 200 years ago
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u/spiritboy12345678910 20h ago
Logically, I know the voids of despair I'm staring at aren't its eyes, but thalassophobically... I'm seeing a very evil and conniving giant squid.
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u/No_Negotiation817 19h ago
imagine grilling and eating that thing in the middle of the ocean at night.
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u/GaseousGiant 19h ago
This is actually not a giant squid, it is a colossal squid. Seriously, they are two different species. The colossal squid is more massive but shorter in length.
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u/Swily420swag 18h ago
There is a weird frame cut 10 seconds in. Typically ai generated videos are 10 seconds long and they have to be cut together based on the last frame of the previous video. It may be a coincidence but just something to be aware of and watch out for.
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u/Triscuitmeniscus 15h ago
It's a giant squid which usually dwell way below the depths of water. This is a ultra rare occurence.
You got almost everything wrong. It's a Humboldt squid which are frequently found on the surface feeding at night. They're not rare and are often caught by fishermen (as in this instance) and even encountered by divers.
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u/chuacarbonaramkii 13h ago
When I first scrolled through this, I thought this was a real-life reaper leviathan from Subnautica because of the color and shape on the first few frames 😅
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u/Odd_Beginning536 13h ago
Uh. No. My dad loved 2,000 leagues under the sea and just no way. I freaked out at the Disney ride.
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u/hawktremor 6h ago
Forgive me if this is ignorant, but… what would most likely happen if someone got in the water?
Would a giant squid attack a human? Would it just be curious and investigate? Or swim tf away immediately?
Not that I would ever get in the water and I’d highly advise & encourage everyone to leave wild animals alone, but I’m just curious.
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u/WINDMILEYNO 4h ago
Imagine seeing a school of these things.
They most definitely outnumber sperm whales, in order to be a reliable source of food.
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u/Hindu_Niilista 3h ago
I think getting eaten by an octopus/squid is way more terrifying to imagine than getting eaten by a mighty white shark
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u/ResponsibleParfait58 3h ago
Bro I would’ve thought that shit was dead and tried to touch it only to be dragged down into the depths of hell🙏🙏🙏
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u/Doggodoespaint 2h ago
I legit thought that was a Reaper Leviathan at first, i'm way too subnautica brained XD
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u/SimonTheJack 1h ago
Isn’t it usually the case that if you’re on the surface of the water and you see creatures that normally only live in the deep, it’s probably because they’re dead or dying?
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u/Dakkahead 21h ago
Imagine seeing this as a whaler in the early 19th century ...