Researchers on the E/V Nautilus navigated the remote explorer through the waters near Palmyra Atoll when it spotted a rare piglet squid in 2019. The remote explorer was submerged at a depth of around 4,500 feet when this rare deep-sea dweller came into sight. The piglet squid gets its name from its big mouth-like siphon that resembles a pig’s snout.
A group of researchers saw an adorable baby squid in its natural habitat, deep in the Pacific Ocean. The curious animal was caught on camera when the E/V Nautilus crew was exploring the Palmyra Atoll. At 4,500ft (1,385m), they came across the squid and stopped to enjoy the moment with the small marine animal.
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The non-profit Ocean Exploration Trust’s Nautilus team used an ROV (remotely operated underwater vehicle) to get a quick look at the small piglet squid. The people who found the squid explained that squids, like other cephalopods, move by pulling and pushing the water around them with a structure called a siphon that works like a jet pump.
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The chance meeting happened 1,000 miles south of Hawaii on the remote coral atoll. The researchers said the animals could control their buoyancy with an internal chamber filled with ammonia. This beautiful squid is often seen with its tentacles spread out above its head, making it seem like it has a wild hairstyle or, as one team member put it, “reindeer antlers.”
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This cephalopod, Helicocranchia pfefferi, is also known as the piglet squid because its siphon looks like a pig’s snout. But what are piglet squids? A typical adult is about 4 inches tall (100 mm). The body is shaped like a big funnel with small fins that look like paddles. Above their eyes are small tentacles. It can be found in almost all oceans. The piglet squid has not been studied and understood much because of its tiny size and deep-water habitat.
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The “piglet squid” is not a new creature. It was first seen in 1907. In science, it is called Helicocranchia pfefferi, but in everyday language, it is called the banded piglet squid. The tiny creatures are only about 4 inches long. They live in the mesopelagic zone of the ocean, which is about 650 feet below the surface. The team says in the video that the translucent piglet squid looks like it’s wearing lipstick and has long eyelashes. The squid also gives the team a full beauty shot before turning around and zooming off into the ocean.
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The body is almost completely transparent, and when you look at it, you can just barely see the organs inside, which gives it a smile-like appearance. Most of the time, when the piglet squid is seen from submersibles, its head seems upside down. But it’s not at all clear why they do this.
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Piglet squids are in the family Cranchiidae, which has about 60 species of glass squids. Surprisingly, all glass squids commonly display the strange habit of swimming upside-down, which is why these piglet squids appear upside-down. While the reason is unknown, it gives them the appearance of having a weird mop of hair with their arms and tentacles flowing freely above their eyes.
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Sadly, piglet squids don’t live long after they have done their job of reproducing. Males put on interesting shows to attract females. Once they decide to mate, the male will grab the female and insert a special arm called a hectocotylus into her mantle to transfer the sperm. The male will soon die after this is done, and the female will also die after she has laid her eggs and cared for them long enough for them to hatch.
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The North Atlantic is where this animal lives most of the time. No one knows how many Piglet Squid there are. Also, scientists are trying to find out what they eat and how they live. But it is believed that it eats small fish and other animals that don’t have backbones.
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It is one of the smallest species known, being only about 9.9 cm long. This animal remains transparent its whole life. But the adults get a rusty brown color later. No one knows why this happens. Researchers also found that when this small animal gives birth, it changes color from green to purple. The head, the circle of arms and tentacles, and the mantle and fin make up the piglet’s main body. When the squid was once caught alive, it was red, which could mean it was stressed out.
Here's the video of the adorable little piglet squid-