A group of divers in Norway discovered a gigantic gelatinous egg sac full of young squid, demonstrating that fact is still weirder (and cooler) than fiction. Divers from the REV Ocean research vessel were returning from a WWII wreckage 200 meters (approximately 656 feet) off the coast of rsta, Norway, when they had an unexpected encounter with the unknown.
The divers came upon what looked to be a gigantic, almost alien-like mass around 17 meters (55 feet) below the surface, but upon closer investigation, it turned out to be a giant egg sac filled with young 10-armed squids. One of the REV Ocean divers on the scene, Ronald Raasch, captured the chance encounter in a beautiful underwater video, which he then shared on his YouTube channel.
In the video, Raasch refers to the blob as a “blekksprutgeleball” (Norwegian for “squid gel ball”), and it turns out that these gigantic egg sacs may be found in the waters of Norway, Spain, France, and Italy very frequently. According to Live Science, the look of this unique egg sac is very similar to that of the egg sacs of the southern shortfin squid (Illex coindetii), which hold between 50,000 and 200,000 eggs on average.
There’s still a lot to learn about these secretive creatures, but rare recordings like these remind us that the sea never ceases to astonish us.
While studying a lost WWII ship off the coast of rsta, Norway, a team of divers stumble uncover a large egg sac full of young 10-armed squid.
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h/t: [Laughing Squid]