Mysterious luminous monster turned out to be a laying of squid caviar

A huge luminous and slippery creature, photographed by a scuba diver off the coast of Australia, caused a heated discussion of who this mysterious beast might be. Deep sea monster? Giant sea worm? Alien guest? It turned out none of the above. A semitransparent luminous tube photographed by Jay Wink, owner and operator of the Abc Scuba Douglas submarine floating ship in Port Douglas, Queensland, consists of squid caviar of a little-known appearance.

Diamond squid

The mass looks like it is made of rows of pink pearly drops. Biologists say that these glowing pink drops are the squid eggs themselves. Meanwhile, the diver’s surprise is understandable: you really can’t see such a spectacle every day: such phenomena are extremely rare.

The mysterious creature that laid this eggs was probably the Thysanoteuthis rhombus diamond squid, although scientists are not completely sure.

A diamond squid is a large and mysterious creature that can reach about 1 meter in length and weigh up to 30 kilograms. The species is a bit like a surf with an attached group of tentacles, and the animals themselves live in pairs throughout their short life (which lasts about one year).

Kids on their own

According to data published in the Journal of Molluscan Studies, in a huge mysterious mass are large ovoid capsules up to 1.8 m long. According to a 2002 study in the Journal of Plankton Research, each capsule can contain from 24 to 43 thousand eggs.

Fertilized eggs are encased in gelatinous material and are usually laid directly in the open ocean. After that, apparently, they are left to their own devices. Parents are unlikely to visit them.

The pinkish glow is the color of the eggs themselves, although it is not exactly clear what this bright shade gives them. Past studies of diamond squid larvae have shown that they are dotted with lines of both reddish and yellow cells. According to this study, egg masses are usually found in regions with strong warm currents.