Watch an Elusive and Ethereal Bigfin Squid Float Above the Seafloor Off Central California

Scientists working off central California have recorded a bigfin squid alive in the northeastern Pacific for the first time, documenting a rarely encountered animal as it hovered in the deep water above the seafloor. The observation came during an August research voyage focused on marine communities around submerged mountains, adding a striking encounter to a mission built to examine life in one of the ocean’s least accessible settings.

The sighting occurred on August 7 aboard the David Packard, the flagship vessel of the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, or MBARI. Ecologist Olívia Soares Pereira was monitoring the live video sent up by the institute’s remotely operated vehicle, Doc Ricketts, when an unfamiliar form entered the picture. What initially looked like trailing tentacles made her suspect a jellyfish; she later described that first impression as “cool” in an MBARI statement.

As the animal moved through the camera’s view, Pereira recognized that its outline and motion pointed to a much less familiar visitor: a bigfin squid. The footage was obtained roughly 80 miles southwest of Monterey, California, at a depth approaching two miles below the ocean surface. MBARI credited the 2026 images to its expedition and vehicle team, whose cameras brought the otherwise dark scene into view.

The record matters because seeing a deep-sea animal alive can reveal behavior that specimens or distant traces cannot show. Here, the squid was observed floating through the water column rather than being known only through material collected after an encounter. Its appearance was brief, but it provided direct visual evidence that bigfin squid inhabit this part of the Pacific, a region where they had not previously been observed alive.

Bigfin squid are known for their unusual, delicate-looking form and have a reputation for evading observation. That reputation helps explain why a routine watch on a live ROV feed can become a significant scientific moment. The expedition was not presented as a dedicated search for this individual animal; it was surveying marine life associated with undersea mountains when the camera happened upon it.

Those underwater mountains, often called seamounts, can create distinct habitats far from shore and far beneath the reach of ordinary diving. Reaching them requires a research ship, a remotely controlled vehicle and cameras capable of operating at crushing depths. The Doc Ricketts allowed scientists aboard the David Packard to watch conditions in real time, which is why Pereira could assess the unexpected shape as it passed through the frame.

The encounter also illustrates a limit on what a single video can establish. The footage confirms an alive bigfin squid in the northeastern Pacific, but one observation alone does not answer how common the animals are there, how broadly they range around California’s offshore mountains or what features of the habitat they use. Such questions will require further surveys and additional observations rather than conclusions drawn from one passing animal.

For marine researchers, the value of such records can grow when future expeditions compare where, when and at what depth related animals appear. The August sighting supplies a clear location, date and visual reference for that work: deep water southwest of Monterey, recorded by MBARI’s remotely operated vehicle. Repeated camera surveys could show whether the observation was exceptional or part of a less visible pattern in the offshore region.

There is also a broader public dimension to the video. Much of the deep ocean remains difficult to see firsthand, and live feeds can turn an abstract research mission into an encounter with an animal that appears almost unreal. In this case, the discovery began not with a targeted capture but with a scientist noticing drifting appendages on a screen, then realizing the fleeting visitor represented a regional first.

Source: Smithsonian Magazine