By Mari Hansen A tiny transparent creature drifted through the beam of a remotely controlled camera somewhere in the deep south Atlantic, in water so dark and cold that the pressure alone would crush an unprotected human body. It measured roughly thirty centimeters in length. It had eight hook-lined arms. Furthermore, it was completely unaware that people thousands of miles away on Earth were going insane while watching its footage. Dr. Kat Bolstad, a specialist in cephalopods who confirmed the recording, said, “It’s thrilling to see the first in situ footage of a juvenile colossal and humbling to think that they have no idea that humans exist.”
It would be an understatement. Mesonychoteuthis hamiltoni, the full and somewhat intimidating scientific name for the enormous squid, was first discovered and given a formal name in 1925. Scientists used dead specimens—bodies discovered in sperm whales’ stomachs, partial remains discovered in fishing nets, and the occasional washed-up adult too far gone to provide much of a story—to build their understanding of the species for the entire century that followed.
Key information — colossal & deep-sea squid filmed alive
| Historic milestone | First confirmed footage of a live colossal squid in its natural deep-sea habitat — filmed in March 2025, exactly 100 years after the species was first identified and named |
| Species filmed | Colossal squid (Mesonychoteuthis hamiltoni) — the heaviest invertebrate on Earth, capable of growing up to 7 meters (23 feet) and weighing up to 500 kg (1,100 lbs) |
| Specimen size & depth | A 30 cm (11.8 inch) juvenile, filmed at a depth of 600 meters (1,968 feet) near the South Sandwich Islands in the south Atlantic Ocean |
| Research vessel | Schmidt Ocean Institute’s R/V Falkor (too) — a remotely operated vehicle was used to capture the footage during a 35-day expedition |
| Lead scientist | Dr. Michelle Taylor, Chief Scientist from the University of Essex — team initially unsure of species identity, filming it for being “beautiful and unusual” |
| Verification expert | Dr. Kat Bolstad, cephalopod specialist at Auckland University of Technology — confirmed identification; noted prior encounters had been almost entirely remains in whale and seabird stomachs |
| Second major discovery | In December 2024, the same research vessel filmed an Antarctic gonate squid alive for the first time — a three-foot specimen spotted 7,000 feet below the Southern Ocean’s surface |
| Previous live footage | Giant squid (a separate but related species) was first recorded alive in 2006 near Japan’s Ogasawara Islands — colossal squid had never been observed alive at depth until 2025 |
| Population status | The Natural History Museum notes the global population of colossal squids is impossible to estimate — the species still “straddles the line between legend and reality” due to extreme scarcity of observations |
| Distinguishing feature | Hooks on the middle of all eight arms — unique to the colossal squid; juveniles are fully transparent, losing this appearance as they mature into adults |
The living animal remained obstinately invisible in its real surroundings, moving as all living things do. Up until March 2025, when a research team on board the Schmidt Ocean Institute’s ship Falkor (too) sent a remote vehicle down to 600 meters close to the South Sandwich Islands and returned with footage that had never been recorded by a human.
During the 35-day expedition, the team under the direction of Dr. Michelle Taylor of the University of Essex was initially unsure of what they were looking at. When colossal squid reach adulthood, their opaque bulk—which can reach lengths of seven meters and weights of up to 500 kilograms, making them the heaviest invertebrate on Earth—replaces the juvenile’s transparency. Filming it was “beautiful and unusual,” according to Taylor, which is the kind of genuine, human reaction to something extraordinary that is typically edited out of official announcements but likely captures the moment better than any technical language would. Bolstad later received the video and verified its identity. After a hundred years of a species existing almost entirely as a rumor, that confirmation must have carried a special weight—suddenly, unquestionably, there on a screen.
This is not a stand-alone finding. It comes as part of a larger trend of deep-sea research yielding results that continuously redefine the boundaries of what is believed to exist in the ocean. The same research vessel recorded the first live Antarctic gonate squid in December 2024. The three-foot specimen was discovered swimming approximately 7,000 feet below the surface of the Southern Ocean in extremely hostile and remote conditions; the team had only arrived at the filming location because icy conditions had prevented them from reaching their original destination.
Instead, they unintentionally released their remotely operated vehicle, known as SuBastian, around the Powell Basin’s periphery and captured footage that had never been seen by scientists. In typical understatement, UC Santa Barbara marine scientist Andrew Thurber, who was on board at the time, said, “You see beauty all the time in the deep ocean, and this was just one classic example of it.”
Here’s something worth stopping for. It wasn’t until 2006 that the giant squid—technically a different species, Architeuthis dux—was successfully captured on camera while still alive, thanks to researchers’ use of suspended bait off Japan’s Ogasawara Islands. Prior to that, even as recently as 2022, the Natural History Museum characterized the enormous squid as something that “straddles the line between legend and reality.” Stories about sea monsters from centuries of maritime culture most likely originated from actual encounters with enormous squid that were found partially digested in whale carcasses, washed ashore, or glimpsed at the surface during infrequent upwellings. The stories weren’t created out of thin air. They were accounts of something actual that no one could get close enough to accurately record.
The amount of the deep ocean that is still completely unknown to humans is truly startling when you watch this video and read about how it was created. The world’s colossal squid population cannot be confidently estimated by scientists. Nearly nothing is known about the animal’s life cycle, including how it reproduces, how long it lives, and how it hunts once it reaches adulthood. Transparent and floating at 600 meters, the juvenile in the video is a representation of a species that has lived on this planet for millions of years and has managed to conceal almost all of its secrets from the most observant species that has ever coexisted with it. Something about that is subtly amazing. Not particularly troubling. Just a reminder that the creatures traveling through the ocean have not been waiting for us to discover them, and that the ocean is far larger and much less understood than the maps tend to suggest.