Scientists find giant squid off Western Australia in 226-species survey — Australia Giant Squid Edna Research
Scientists used australia giant squid edna research to detect evidence of a giant squid off Western Australia’s coast in deep-sea canyon water samples, marking the first eDNA record of the species there. The survey also found 226 species in waters around the Cape Range and Cloates canyons, 1,200km north of Perth.
Ningaloo canyon samples
Georgia Nester, the lead author and a University of Western Australia researcher, said the team collected seawater rather than trying to see animals directly. She said, “These canyons are incredibly rich ecosystems and, until now, they’ve been largely unexplored because of the difficulty of working at such extreme depths.”
The researchers collected some samples from depths as deep as 4,510m. They analyzed environmental DNA, or eDNA, by looking for tiny traces shed through skin, mucus and faeces, and then matched those traces to species in the deep-sea canyons off Nyinggulu, also known as Ningaloo.
Lisa Kirkendale on A. dux
Lisa Kirkendale, WA Museum Head of Aquatic Zoology and Curator of Molluscs, said, “This is the first record of a giant squid detected off Western Australia’s coast using eDNA protocols and the northernmost record of [the species] A. dux in the eastern Indian Ocean.” The species can grow to more than 13m long and has eyes the size of dinner plates.
The survey also detected pygmy sperm whales, Cuvier’s beaked whales and bony-eared assfish. Some animals had never been detected in Western Australian waters before, including sleeper sharks, slender snaggletooths and faceless cusk eels.
Environmental DNA journal
The findings were published in the journal Environmental DNA. Nester said, “With eDNA, a single water sample can tell us about hundreds of species at once. That means we can dramatically expand our understanding of deep-water environments in a way that simply hasn’t been possible before.”
She also said, “Finding evidence of a giant squid really captures people’s imagination, but it’s just one part of a much bigger picture.” The study adds a first giant squid record off Western Australia and a northernmost eastern Indian Ocean record for A. dux to a survey that found species not previously recorded in the state’s waters.
