First time in 100 years: baby colossal squid, the world's heaviest invertebrate, filmed in the wild

Scientists have filmed a colossal squid alive in its natural habitat for the first time, a discovery announced on April 15.

The footage was captured on March 9 near the South Sandwich Islands in the South Atlantic, at a depth of about 600 metres. It was recorded by SuBastian, a remotely operated vehicle launched from the Schmidt Ocean Institute's research ship.

The surprise was that the squid on camera was a baby, only about 30 cm long. It looks almost see-through, because the colossal squid belongs to the glass squid family.

Adults can grow up to 7 metres long and weigh around 500 kg, making the colossal squid the heaviest invertebrate on Earth.

The species was identified in 1925, but in the 100 years since, nobody had seen one alive in the ocean. On the same expedition, in January, the team had also filmed another glass squid species alive for the first time, near Antarctica.