Stunning Footage of Transparent Deep Sea Glass Squid

Researchers on the NOAA ship Okeanos Explorer captured stunning footage of a glass squid diving in the twilight zone waters of the Semidi Islands in Alaska. This sighting took place during the first dive of the Seascape Alaska 3 expedition and they were struck by the cephalopod’s transparency.

The red organ in the center of the squid is its digestive gland, flanked on either side by two white, crescent-shaped organs that are the squid’s gills. Also visible below each eye are photophores, which are light-producing organs. The eye movements shown in the video are thought to be the squid blinking. This is a fairly common squid in these waters, but the close-up imagery captured here was anything but!

Lori Dorn
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.

Recent Posts