Giant squid with blue blood and three hearts captured on video for first time in US waters

In the pitch black waters 750 meters below the surface of the Gulf of Mexico, a thin, undulating arm emerges from the gloom. Suddenly, it splits as a squid blooms from the darkness and attacks.

For the first time, a giant squid has been captured on film in US waters.

The video was filmed last week by a team of researchers on an expedition funded by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). They were studying the impacts of light-deprivation on deep sea creatures who live in the "midnight zone", 3,280ft below the surface.

To bring the historic image to the world, the 23-person crew had to use a specialised probe to lure the elusive squid to a camera, and then find it among hours of video footage.

The downloaded video also survived a sudden lightning strike to the metal research vessel that could have destroyed the scientists' computers.

Edith Widder, one of the leaders of the NOAA expedition, described the moment they spotted the squid as "one of the more amazing days at sea I've ever had".

The scientists used a specialised camera system developed by Ms Widder called The Medusa, which uses red light undetectable to deep sea creatures.

The probe was fitted with a fake jellyfish that mimicked the invertebrates' bioluminescent defence mechanism, which can signal to larger predators that a meal may be nearby, to lure the squid and other animals to the camera.

With days to go until the end of the scientists' two-week expedition, 100 miles southeast of New Orleans, a giant squid took the bait.

"It's got eight writhing arms and two slashing tentacles," Ms Widder said. "It has the largest eye of any animal we know of, it's got a beak that can rip flesh.

"It has a jet propulsion system that can go backwards and forwards, blue blood, and three hearts. It's an amazing, amazing life form we know almost nothing about."

Michael Vecchione, a zoologist at the NOAA's National Systematics Laboratory was able to confirm remotely that the scientists had captured images of the elusive giant squid. The researchers estimated it was at least 3-3.7m long.

Nobody had managed to collect footage of the creature in its natural habitat until 2012, when Ms Widder and her colleagues used The Medusa to capture the first-ever video on a mission off the coast of Japan.

Historically, much of what scientists knew about giant squid came from dead specimens that had washed up on shore or had been recovered from the bellies of sperm whales, Smithsonian Magazine reported.

Their immense size, alien features, and elusive behaviour have earned the giant squid a legendary status among marine life.

Ms Widder and her colleagues, hope that discoveries like theirs will continue to capture the public imagination and help spur support for oceanic research.

"What were once monsters to be feared are now curious and magnificent creatures that delight," the NOAA scientists wrote on their expedition blog.

"We like to feel that science and exploration has brought about this change, making the world less scary and more wondrous with each new thing we learn."

Washington Post