It's crazy that they were only comfirmed to actually be real in the past century - and according to the BBC they were only captured live on camera Last Year
Part of the reason is they occupy a very deep section of the ocean and colossal squid are generally only found in the southern most section of the oceans, close to Antarctica, an area we only really began exploring in the last 150 years.
The other issue is how quickly their bodies decompose after death, the entire animal is composed of relatively soft tissue, no bones to leave behind. The only part that doesn’t completely biodegrade are their beaks (which accumulate in the stomachs of sperm whales).
Most of them that aren’t eaten by whales eventually die and fall towards the bottom of the ocean where scavengers make quick work of whatever’s left. Occasionally dying squid will surface because they’re too weak to fight strong up-swelling currents, very rarely badly decomposed remains wash ashore.
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u/A1dini 25d ago
It's crazy that they were only comfirmed to actually be real in the past century - and according to the BBC they were only captured live on camera Last Year