An Incredible Encounter With a Curious Swarm of Market Squid and Squat Lobsters

Lori Dorn
August 12, 2016

Look at all these squid. This is unreal

While exploring off the coast of Southern California, the ROV Hercules, launched from the E/V Nautilus, dove about 330 meters down and encountered an incredible swarm of market squid swimming upward towards the light, while a number of squat lobsters were just floating free amongst the numerous cephalopods.

Some fish and marine organisms stay away from the bright, loud ROVs. But some fish species like to use the bright lights to help them get food. This swarm of fish off the coast of California did not seem to mind the bright yellow robots.

A photo posted by Nautilus Live (@nautiluslive) on Jun 29, 2016 at 3:24pm PDT

|DIVE ALERT| No squidding, we're diving deep–down to 3300m to explore rugged basins! Watch: https://t.co/Ajj54YYX2Q pic.twitter.com/3iSWdLqj13

— E/V Nautilus (@EVNautilus) August 11, 2016

Lori Dorn

Lori is a Laughing Squid Contributing Editor based in New York City who has been writing blog posts for over a decade. She also enjoys making jewelry, playing guitar, taking photos and mixing craft cocktails.