Deep sea submarine explorer is stalked by bloody scary Abyssal Squid

It’s long been established that the ocean floor is a vastly unexplored and – dare we say it – alien place. It’s well known for being seriously f**ken hard to investigate thanks to combinations of high pressure, extreme darkness and sheer inaccessibility. However, we are slowly exploring more and more of it. And as we do that, we come face to face with more of the wild and wonderful animals that are lurking down there…

If you’re into this kind of thing, you probably know that right now the US’s National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration is mapping ocean floors of the coast of Florida.

As they’re doing that, they’re finding tonnes of cool animals – including f**ken heaps of octopuses – and they’ve even had an abyssal squid stalk some of their tech.

Just the other day, they shared a rad image of a pretty freaky-looking squid sneaking up the back of their Deep Discoverer 2 submersible. Honestly, this squid’s seeming pretty bloody shifty to us. He’s creeping up like a pickpocket. Anyway, they captioned the image with the following:

Credit: NOAA

“For our next almost #Okeanos-time and #Halloween post — check out this lurking deep-sea squid (Grimalditeuthis bonplandi), seen creeping above remotely operated vehicle Deep Discoverer (D2) as the vehicle explores the face of a scarp feature during Windows to the Deep 2019. Ever get the feeling you’re being watched?!”

Credit: NOAA

Credit: NOAA

“Good thing D2 has Seirios standing guard. Referred to in the industry as a ‘camera sled,’ Seirios is tethered directly to the ship and then to D2, providing illumination and a wide-angle view as she hovers above D2, expanding our view of the seafloor and catching glimpses of things we’d otherwise miss…”

Credit: NOAA

Credit: NOAA

Of course, we can’t be judging the squid’s intent. He might just be checking s**t out and having a squiz. It might be perfectly innocent. And, even if it’s not, you’ve gotta be fair and give it up for the other animals they found.

Credit: NOAA

Credit: NOAA

Credit: NOAA

Credit: NOAA

None of them are acting like the bloody squid, so, on balance, we reckon the ocean floor might be an all right place to hang out after all. Except for this cutthroat eel. In fairness, he seems pretty f**ken hardcore.

Credit: NOAA

Final thought: We’ll never not be fascinated by this kinda s**t. The more we explore down there, the more we’re gonna see and we love checking out wildlife. When you consider the stuff down there has no real reason to fear humans – or their technology – there should be some pretty interesting meetings happening in the near future.

Just in case you missed it, here’s one of Ozzy’s latest commentary videos…Ozzy Man Reviews: Animals Relaxing

H/T: IFLSCIENCE.