For the first time ever, scientists have observed a giant squid hunting in its own natural habitat 2,500-feet under the gulf of Mexico. Put simply, marine biologists used a specially designed deep sea platform with an integrated camera to analyze the behavior of giant squids using fake jellyfish, known as E-jelly, which mimics the blue flashing bioluminescence emitted by atolla jellyfish in distress.
While giant squid do not typically consume jellyfish, they are attracted to its distress lights, signalling that they may be under attack by something it does hunt. This would suggest that giant squid are more visual hunters, since it simply ignored the olfactory bait located nearby in favor of blue flashing lights.
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We recommend that future studies assess the value of using low-light systems or optical lures in a more scientifically-robust manner. For example, while the bioluminescence-mimicking E-Jelly appears to be an effective tool for attracting cephalopod species, future studies could assess whether lures of differing intensities, colors, or light patterns vary in their capacity to attract various taxa of deep-sea cephalopods,” said the scientists in their paper.
