Fewer than 70 Magnapinna have been seen worldwide. (© 2026 MBARI)
In the liminal darkness of the water column deep under the sea, an entire ecosystem thrives.Under pressure, temperature, and light conditions deeply inhospitable to humans, life has found many different ways to adapt.In a new video, Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI) scientists have documented a rare encounter with one of the eeriest: A Magnapinna squid, its bizarre fins and trailing appendages emerging from the inky black of the bathypelagic – the midnight zone.It's the first confirmed sighting of this elusive creature in the Northeastern Pacific Ocean."At first, I could only see the tips of what looked like fine tentacles, so I thought it was a jelly, but when the 'elbows' showed up on the screen, I knew this was something really special," MBARI deep-sea ecologist Olívia Soares Pereira told ScienceAlert."Magnapinna is one of the few, if not the only, deep-sea squid with such fine, long arms and tentacles that can bend like that."There are few things in this world that look as uncanny as Magnapinna, also known as the bigfin squid. It lives only in the deep ocean, amid perpetual cold, crushing pressure, and permanent darkness beyond the reach of sunlight.The encounter took place on 7 August in just such inhospitable-to-humans conditions, as the research team used the remotely operated vehicle Doc Ricketts to survey the seafloor near Davidson Seamount, off the coast of Central California.At a depth of 3,277 meters (10,751 feet), the squid hovered above the muddy seafloor, gently undulating its two enormous fins as its eight arms and two tentacles trailed below. Using the ROV's laser measuring system, the researchers estimated the animal measured around 1.25 meters from the top of its body to the ends of its arms.Bigfin squid are among the most elusive cephalopods known. Only around 70 have ever been observed or collected, leaving huge gaps in our understanding of even their most basic biology.
