Video: Aberdeen university man’s search for giant squid
Scientists in quest to find mysterious deep sea creature
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AN ABERDEEN university scientist has his eye on finding one of the ocean’s hidden creatures – a giant squid, which can reach more than 40ft in length.
And now marine biologists at the University of Aberdeen’s new £4.4 million Ocean Lab 2 have the resources to find the enormous squid, which has baffled scientists for years.
Ocean Lab technical director Phil Bagley, 46, praised the Newburgh site’s new facilities.
The Oldmeldrum resident said: “This work is groundbreaking because we’re going deeper into the sea than anybody else in the world.”
But the University of Aberdeen marine biologist still has his eye on the ultimate discovery – filming the giant squid in its natural habitat.
So far, the giant squid has only been briefly caught on camera by Japanese scientists.
Mr Bagley said: “To be the next ones to film a giant squid swimming would be amazing.”
The University of Aberdeen team of marine biologists, which has already discovered 12 new species in the ocean’s depths, seems to be well on its to finding the giant squid.
The University of Aberdeen’s lab’s researchers have delved 36,000ft (10,972m) beneath’s the ocean surface off the coast of Japan in the Mariana Trench – the deepest part of the ocean.
A fleet of remotely-operated machines called landers allowed the University of Aberdeen scientists to take pictures and live footage of the ocean floor thousands of feet below.
The landers, which each cost up to £200,000, have been reinforced with titanium, helping them withstand the pressure in the deep sea.
So far, the landers have captured rare footage of the six-gilled shark, which can grow to be 18ft (5.5m) in length, pictures of deep sea shrimp that stretch up to 3.3ft (1m) long and shellfish that glow in the dark.
