No, you’re not looking at an extraterrestrial being, just a bigfin squid, which are a group of rarely seen cephalopods with a distinctive morphology. Although the family is known only from larval, paralarval, and juvenile specimens, some authorities believe the adult creature has also been seen; several videos have been taken of animals nicknamed the “long-arm squid”, which appear to have a similar morphology. Since none of the adult specimens have ever been captured or sampled, it remains uncertain if they are the same genus, or only distant relatives. The Shell Oil Company released the video above from 2007 captured by one of its unmanned underwater rovers in the Gulf of Mexico. Click here to view the first image in today’s viral picture gallery. Continue reading for a viral video of a crazy bike race through the streets of Portugal.
