Scientists find googly-eyed squid off the California coast

Researchers combing the bottom of the sea off the coast of California recently stumbled upon a creature that looked like it came straight out of a Super Nintendo video game.

As seen on a video posted to YouTube by the research vessel E/V Nautilus, researchers happened upon a squid-like creature with “googly” eyes that looked almost cartoonish.

The study team was using an underwater drone to examine the sea floor and upon the unique-looking creature from a distance, the scientists can be heard in the video trying to figure out if it was an octopus or cuttlefish, a type of cephalopod.

When the team sent in the drone for a closer look, their attention shifted to the creature’s captivating eyes.

“They look like googly eyes … It looks so fake!” a female-sounding voice can be heard saying. “It’s like some little kid dropped their toy.”

The strange and interesting Stubby Squid

According to a description of the video, the researchers established that the creature was a Stubby squid, also known as Rossia pacifica.

“This species spends life on the seafloor, activating a sticky mucus jacket and burrowing into the sediment to camouflage, leaving their eyes poking out to spot prey like shrimp and small fish,” the E/V Nautilus description said.

Stubby squid inhabit the Northern Pacific and are typically seen at a depth of close to 1000 feet, though sightings have happened much lower, the E/V team said. The specimen seen in the video, for instance, was situated almost 3000 feet below the ocean.

The Stubby squid seen in the video was a vibrant purple and the creature is able to change color like other cephalopods. In a 2013 study, scientists from the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) found the mechanisms accountable for the dramatic color transformations in cephalopods.

Color in living organisms can be produced in one of two ways pigmentation or structural framework. Structural colors are caused by the physical interaction between light and biological nanostructures.

In the UCSB study, researchers showed specialized cells in the squid skin called iridocytes contain deep pleats or invaginations of the cell membrane extending deep into the body of the cell. This creates layers, or lamellae, that operate as a tunable reflector of light.

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Image credit: EVNautilus/YouTube

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