Arctic squid mother caught on rare footage

The Arctic Ocean is one of the most extreme environments on Earth, but that’s not stopping one cephalopod from making a home there. In a first, researchers observed an Arctic bobtail squid in the North Atlantic. The team captured video of a mature female squid tending her eggs.

This species can reproduce and raise its young in one of the coldest, least-studied oceans on Earth.

The finding reveals the resilience of marine life in one of Earth’s most extreme environments, said Paige Maroni, a researcher at the University of Western Australia, in a statement. Maroni led the study, which was published in Polar Biology.

The sighting occurred in Northeast Greenland National Park, the largest national park on Earth and also one of the least explored.

Maroni and her colleagues deployed a remotely operated underwater vehicle to a depth of 50 meters when it spotted the squid and her eggs—at this depth, the water was –1.6 degrees Celsius (29.12 degrees Fahrenheit).

In Arctic ecosystems, squid and octopuses occupy a special place, both hunting smaller prey and getting hunted themselves, and this makes them a sensitive early signal of how the broader ecosystem is holding up as the region warms.

Establishing knowledge of the biodiversity in this region is essential for understanding ecosystem function and resilience under accelerating climate change, Maroni said. This study provides a valuable new baseline for tracking ecological change in the rapidly warming Arctic.

The expedition itself has pointed to a broader shift in how this kind of research gets done.

The team wasn’t onboard a dedicated research vessel. Rather they were on a Secret Atlas Expedition Micro Cruise ship, supported by Yachts for Science, a model that pairs paying travelers with working scientists.

Maroni said that pairing is proving to be more than a novelty. “Our results show low-impact science and expedition tourism can help fill major biodiversity gaps in remote polar regions,” she said.

In poorly studied polar ecosystems, even one verified observation can provide important insight into species distributions, reproduction and resilience under climate change.

Maroni and her colleagues made this discovery with the support of voicesml.org. If you’re enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today.

It’s Time to Stand Up for Science. If you enjoyed this article, I’d like to ask for your support. Scientific American has served as an advocate for science and industry for 180 years, and right now may be the most critical moment in that two-century history.

I’ve been a Scientific American subscriber since I was 12 years old, and it helped shape the way I look at the world. SciAm always educates and delights me, and inspires a sense of awe for our vast, beautiful universe. I hope it does that for you, too.

If you subscribe to Scientific American, you help ensure that our coverage is centered on meaningful research and discovery; that we have the resources to report on the decisions that threaten labs across the U.S.; and that we support both budding and working scientists at a time when the value of science itself too often goes unrecognized.

In return, you get essential news, captivating podcasts, brilliant infographics, can’t-miss newsletters, must-watch videos, challenging games, and the science world’s best writing and reporting. You can even gift someone a subscription.

There has never been a more important time for us to stand up and show why science matters. I hope you’ll support us in that mission.