{"id":474886,"date":"2026-05-08T14:22:21","date_gmt":"2026-05-08T14:22:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/474886\/"},"modified":"2026-05-08T14:22:21","modified_gmt":"2026-05-08T14:22:21","slug":"giant-squid-dna-found-in-deep-canyons-off-australia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/474886\/","title":{"rendered":"Giant Squid DNA Found in Deep Canyons off Australia"},"content":{"rendered":"

Using environmental DNA (eDNA) collected from waters more than 4 km deep off Western Australia\u2019s Nyinggulu (Ningaloo) coast, researchers identified a total of 226 species across 11 major animal groups, ranging from creatures previously undetected in the area, such as the giant squid, to others thought to be new to science.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A giant squid, at least 10-12 feet in length, approaches the Medusa\u2019s e-jelly lure before realizing the e-jelly is not food and retreating. Image credit: Edie Widder & Nathan Robinson.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur results highlight how little is known about Australia\u2019s deep\u2011sea ecosystems,\u201d said Dr. Georgia Nester, who conducted the research as part of her Ph.D. studies at Curtin University and is now at the University of Western Australia.<\/p>\n

Dr. Nester and colleagues on board the Schmidt Ocean Institute\u2019s R\/V Falkor surveyed the deep Cape Range and Cloates submarine canyons about 1,200 km north of Perth, collecting more than 1,000 samples from depths of up to 4,510 m.<\/p>\n

Using eDNA, they were able to document what species live in these deep habitats without needing to see or capture them.<\/p>\n

Among the most striking finds were traces of the giant squid (Architeuthis dux) detected in both the Cape Range and Cloates Canyons across six separate samples, plus deep\u2011diving whales such as the pygmy sperm whale (Kogia breviceps) and the Cuvier\u2019s beaked whale (Ziphius cavirostris).<\/p>\n

\u201cThere were only two other records of giant squid from Western Australia, but there had not been a sighting or a specimen for more than 25 years,\u201d said Dr. Lisa Kirkendale, a researcher at the Western Australian Museum.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is the first record of a giant squid detected off Western Australia\u2019s coast using eDNA protocols and the northernmost record of Architeuthis dux in the eastern Indian Ocean.\u201d<\/p>\n

The researchers detected a total of 226 species across 11 major animal groups, including rare deep\u2011sea fish, cnidarians, echinoderms, squid, marine mammals and more.<\/p>\n

Dozens of species were detected that had never previously been recorded in Western Australian waters, including the sleeper shark (Somniosus sp.), faceless cusk eel (Typhlonus nasus) and the slender snaggletooth (Rhadinesthes decimus).<\/p>\n

\u201cFinding evidence of a giant squid really captures people\u2019s imagination, but it\u2019s just one part of a much bigger picture,\u201d Dr. Nester said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe found a large number of species that don\u2019t neatly match anything currently recorded, which doesn\u2019t automatically mean they\u2019re new to science, but it strongly suggests there is a vast amount of deep\u2011sea biodiversity we\u2019re only just beginning to uncover.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201ceDNA had the potential to transform how scientists explore and protect the deep ocean,\u201d added Dr. Zoe Richards, a researcher at Curtin University.<\/p>\n

\u201cDeep\u2011sea ecosystems are vast, remote and expensive to study, yet they face growing pressure from climate change, fishing and resource extraction.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201ceDNA gives us a scalable, non\u2011invasive way to build baseline knowledge of what lives there, which is essential for informed management and conservation.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can\u2019t protect what you don\u2019t know exists. The sheer number of discoveries, including megafauna, makes it clear that we still have so much to learn about what marine life lives in the Indian Ocean.\u201d<\/p>\n

The team\u2019s results<\/a> appear in the journal Environmental DNA.<\/p>\n

_____<\/p>\n

Georgia M. Nester et al. 2026. Environmental DNA Reveals Diverse and Depth-Stratified Biodiversity in East Indian Ocean Submarine Canyons. Environmental DNA 8 (2): e70261; doi: 10.1002\/edn3.70261<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Using environmental DNA (eDNA) collected from waters more than 4 km deep off Western Australia\u2019s Nyinggulu (Ningaloo) coast,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":474887,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[273],"tags":[208123,208124,1128,191010,208125,3286,194545,78490,18,208126,3288,3289,208127,19,17,208128,51498,208129,208130,133,161587,208131,208132,208133,158210,112849,208134,208135,4160,461,208136],"class_list":{"0":"post-474886","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wildlife","8":"tag-architeuthis","9":"tag-architeuthis-dux","10":"tag-australia","11":"tag-canyon","12":"tag-cuviers-beaked-whale","13":"tag-dna","14":"tag-edna","15":"tag-eel","16":"tag-eire","17":"tag-faceless-cusk-eel","18":"tag-gene","19":"tag-genome","20":"tag-giant-squid","21":"tag-ie","22":"tag-ireland","23":"tag-kogia-breviceps","24":"tag-pygmy-sperm-whale","25":"tag-rhadinesthes","26":"tag-rhadinesthes-decimus","27":"tag-science","28":"tag-sleeper-shark","29":"tag-slender-snaggletooth","30":"tag-snaggletooth","31":"tag-somniosus","32":"tag-sperm-whale","33":"tag-squid","34":"tag-typhlonus","35":"tag-typhlonus-nasus","36":"tag-whale","37":"tag-wildlife","38":"tag-ziphius-cavirostris"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116539408654044794","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/474886","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=474886"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/474886\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/474887"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=474886"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=474886"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=474886"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}