A group of divers outside Ørsta in Norway were visiting a WWII shipwreck 200 meters from the coast, at the beginning of this October. On their way back, Ronald Raasch and Nils Baadness together with their team members from the research group REV Ocean discovered a mysterious floating shape. The blob that was captured on camera was floating 17 meters below the sea surface. Turns out, the pair of divers had discovered a 10-armed squid egg's sac containing thousands of babies.
More info: Twitter | Ronald Raasch
Two Norwegian divers stumbled upon a mysterious floating shape in the waters of Ørstafjorden, Norway
Image credits: Ronald Raasch
The see-through, otherworldly ball was found floating around in the darkness of the fjord by captain Nils Baadnes and diver Ronald Raasch. Soon enough, they discovered what the massive blob actually was - a huge mass of squid eggs.
The floating blob was quickly revealed to be a giant egg mass of a squid
Image credits: REV Ocean
The huge mysterious mass was discovered on October 5th and two days later, REV Ocean - research expedition vessel - posted on their Twitter account: "Mystery solved! REV Ocean captain Nils Baadnes & Ronald Raasch discovered this giant gel ball while diving in Orstafjord Norway, which is actually an eggmass of 10-armed squid."
Such masses are rarely seen by humans
Image credits: Ronald Raasch
These sacs are rarely seen by humans as they tend to be laid deep in the sea. Afterward, they sink lower and lower until reaching the depth of about 150 meters (500 feet) where the baby squids hatch.
Eggs of squid are usually laid deep in the sea
Image credits: Ronald Raasch
It is yet unknown which species exactly of squid produced the Ørstafjorden mass. While REV Ocean on their Twitter account mentioned the "10-armed squid", all squids have 10 tentacles. In addition to this, it is often really difficult to specifically identify marine species judging just by their eggs.
The giant egg sac contains thousands of squid babies
Image credits: Ronald Raasch
The video of the discovery made by two Norwegian divers was watched over 300k times and people in the comments were mesmerized by the appearance of the blob. "The ocean really is still filled with mystery," someone noticed.
It is believed that squids lay a smaller mass which expands on contact with the water
Image credits: Ronald Raasch
Scientists believe that one of the two species of squids laid the giant egg mass - either the European flying squid or a much smaller - Boreoatlantic armhook - squid. Sizes of both species vary from 25cm to 35cm (10-14 inches).
Watch the full video below
Image credits: Ronald Raasch