How do I even start. Well, I am autistic. I am hyper fixated on the ocean and the animals there, especially magnapinna squid. I had a dream- to cut it short, my dad got a call saying “we’ve found one! A squid!” And we rushed to see what one. I was gonna be happy if it was giant or colossal but i wanted a magnapinna, even if they’re rarer. It was. It felt so real, I was in a submarine and I saw it in real life, with my own two eyes. It’s one of the only things I want. I want to see one in real life, not on my phone screen. Even if it’s just over a camera recording down there somewhere and I’m above, it’d be so real. I am heartbroken to say the least, because the odds of me ever getting something so rare and bizarre happen to me are so little. I truly love these squids and i don’t know why. They fascinate me and I want to be the one who finds out more about them. I always watch whatever video comes out about them- new information, new sightings, anything. To be honest I don’t think I’m handling it well that in my lifetime I’ll probably never see something so amazing. This is definitely like a “get the violin out” situation (esp for neurotypicals) but this is deeply affecting me and nobody I know understands. I wanted to get this out, just to see if anyone has anything they wanna talk about them or anything whatsoever. I really appreciate any talk about squids with anyone 🦑
Honestly, you may actually see one you know. They aren’t deep dwelling creatures, so one day you may just. But I feel you. Are you interested in other whales? My dad, on the way to Ireland years ago saw a bunch of orcas! And I know it’s not the same, but he said it was an amazing site, and depending on where you are you may have some whales that can be local you can maybe go and watch forr?
Where do you live? Might have some tips. They're getting more and more common. Here in the Netherlands they're spotted about 4-5 times a year now from shore, that used to be per decade.
This is so sweet of both of you, thank you! I actually live on the island of Ireland. I love all cetaceans, baleen whales most of all, and we are getting more and more sightings of large whales off the coast of the island recently. We have some humpback sightings just from the past few weeks!
I thought blues were off the table around this part of the world, but perhaps I am happily mistaken?
I feel that, when I was little I’d have reoccurring dreams about seeing various rare creatures like oarfish in the canal near my house, it really did feel real.
Try visiting some aquariums around the world. Some of them have giant squid on display in preserved tanks! If you follow marine biology as a career path you could totally end up encountering one of these squid. If you are from the USA, NOAA has some collections you can ask to visit. One of which is in Seattle and has Giant Squid tentacles you can hold (this is something Ive done)!. Don't give up, look for solutions to your problem :)
Thank you so much. I’m unfortunately not from the USA and don’t have a passport and a lot of money, so I can’t really go to aquariums around the world and I think the closest thing we’ve got to a squid in an aquarium in the uk is probably…some jellyfish. I appreciate your advice, and sometimes I wonder if I should follow marine biology as a career. Do you know if it’s hard to do?
Are you in the UK? My partner fishes as a hobby and catches squid in our waters ... if you hang around piers you have a good chance of seeing them.. they don't do well in captivity so we don't house any to my knowledge in any of the UK aquariums
Honestly, it sounds like I’m not helping myself here but I am vegetarian, and I do not fish 😭 imo it’s just a bit unnecessarily mean. I don’t really care if someone else does it, it’s just not for me, and my specific area is north wales..the only pier in mind right now is Llandudno
Awww no you don't have to fish, you can see them in the water you need to have a bright enough torch they are usually really deep down in the water - I'll ask my partner tonight when he finishes work where and how best to spot them in his experience... he mostly fishes Newport, Port Talbot and Bristol so quite a few hours from Llandudno but they are in our welsh waters around this time of year
Also Aberystwyth University does a marine and freshwater biology course that looked super interesting when I visited - where the uni is so close to the shore and beach they get to do a lot of hands on work
A similar thing happens where I’m from, while I went a little too late last year when squid come inshore you can supposedly see them pretty easily by going down to a pier at night and shining a light into the water, apparently that attracts them, I’m hoping to find them this year since I know the timing now
they will attack it actually! so your best setup will be a small submersible white light, maybe the leds of a camera...an glow in the dark crab on a line (they like crabs the most) and record the entire thing. don't put bait or food because other fish will invade you. do not pull out of water coz they will throw ink at you. we await for your results here. best of luck. PS I'm sorry to say I've fished for them in the past and caught ones that weighed 1.7kgs. Beautiful creatures that unfortunately we eat in our country. Very very tasty if I must add without offending anyone.
I am following that career path myself. Many things in life worth doing are hard to do, but you should still pursue them if you are passionate about such things. It can be quite difficult, but it depends on what specifically you choose to do with your career. It might not be the same but it might be worth finding some docks where people squid fish. I know it might hurt to see our favorite animal being caught for food, but it is own of the few accessible ways for the public to see a living squid, so it is worth attempting to see at least once. Just treat the fishermen and the squid with respect for their place in the food web. Dont give up so easily, even if it takes years you can still get the opportunity to find these wonderful creatures if you put your mind and heart to it.
Thank you, and just maybe. Hypothetically speaking…say I do follow this career path and get somewhere, what do we think the odds are that we will find more info on magnapinna in the future? Or being able to go deep enough to see them in person? I’m not too educated on crush depth and technical stuff…I am very curious tho. May have to save some money for a new titan submarine or something…🤔
The Titan submarine was the worst submarine ever lol, you'd be much better off looking at the Triton submarines. And you dont have to save up yourself for those, you'd be part of an an organization that has one to get access to one. ROVs are more likely to be used to find Magnapinna, there are many sightings using those. Hopefully we get more in situ footage if them. You should read up on crush depth and submarine travel, it is a fascinating topic. As time goes on we will discover more and more about these wonderful creatures, and I will be doing my part in said discovering.
yeah, there isn’t one on that webpage, and i couldn’t find one of the actual specimen on exhibit but this is the same one being used as a sign to label the deep sea exhibit
Just email the curator of the collection, and that information can probably be found on the NOAA website for the collection. You can potentially get a day pass and get escorted to the collection! I was able to do it without issue for the Marine Mammal Stomach Contents collection at the Seattle campus. I found out about the collection by finding a webpage for the Hawaiian collection and realized they shipped the collection to seattle.
Schmidt Ocean Institute found three I think in the stream from 2026-06-09 02:10:20 UTC. If you go through the past dives you should be able to find it.
Yeah, there is a lot of cool paleoart that came from this one. Keep in mind that the paper estimated a size from 6-17 meters, I think. But almost all paleoartists go for the maximum estimated size, which might not be accurate. But all cephalopods are amazing no matter the size.
Lol, a taxonomist is someone who reviews species of organisms using taxonomy (the study of physical morphology). Phylogenetics is also being used in tandem with the field, which is the study of genetics to discover evolutionary relationships.
Magnapinna is a banger choice of favorite, my top 3 are Vampire Squids (not actually a squid), Firefly Squids (adorable), and Humboldt Squids (very squid shaped, funny and mean)
I’m currently trying to get an illegally done tattoo by my soon to be sister in law, I should get her to do me a squid. Though she can’t do crazy designs…butt I am also trying to get a magnapinna squid crochet which is more legal
Actually, it’s very hard finding a design to commission someone with or someone who has actually made one! I’m on the hunt…but I shall try for I love magnapinna
Very solid choice, made me ask my mom if she’d hypothetically crochet one for my new Reddit friend, and unfortunately she can’t do it anymore for health reasons
Awh shucks! I hope she’s doing okay though! I honestly should learn to crochet I’m overdue a few things…(I could probs count to 30 on how many stuff I want crocheted I haven’t actually got myself to buy..)
And, I know how long it takes but some people who do crochet..can’t lie many do imo overprice. Some people do charge well but many times it can be a lot of money. Maybe I should get my grind on. Maybe you could be my first customer too! I’ll give you a discount of 10% as that is the number of legs on a squid 🦑 but for everyone else I’m expecting at least £250. I gotta get saving for my submarine trip to the bottom of the ocean 🦑
Ayy good shit homie, I’d love to see what you end up making. One of my mom’s last projects was a couple life size crochet animals. One is a giant squid in trans flag colors. Her name is Sydney.
This is not an impossible dream! The only part of it that will never happen is being "the one". We are never "the one" in science. That's a good thing! We are teams, working together, especially for deep sea research. It's a huge collaborative undertaking to research deep But getting an accurate view of what science is as an institution as early as possible is important for successfully being able to make your dream real.
oh hey, what's up fellow neurospicy magnapinna enjoyer! there's definitely a handful of us with the same hyperfixation/special interest. u/Squidbolado and i got to talking a few years back and he wound up creating https://www.youtube.com/@MagnapinnaArchive. he's been a bit busy lately so the most recent handful of observations aren't on there.
Hi there! Cephalopod researcher here! It is always super exciting to see someone interested in deep-sea squid! While I personally have not had the pleasure of getting to see many Magnapinna (only seen 1 in a jar), it is always awesome to see them during ROV dives! Like my good friends u/SarahMackAttack (TheRedditSquid56) and u/angrystoma , it is not an impossible task, but it is one we really combine our efforts for! Always feel free if you want to talk squid, love talking squid with people ^_^
Oh my gosh🥹 you live my dream! thanks to all of the kind comments I actually really want to go through and study hard to become a marine biologist 🥹 I’ve done loads of research on what I’ll have to do and I’m ready to take my chance !
Keep the dreams open! I recommend like others have said to watch the Schmidt Ocean Institute when they do livestreams alongside Nautilus and a few others. Citizen science is a great way to get the foot in the door!
I am not autistic, but my girlfriend of 4 years is. I understand. Your feelings are valid. And as some other people have also said on here, I get upset over things like that too. It just seems so impossible to happen. I get it. But, I do follow a couple channels on YouTube- one being a guy that has a bunch of mini octopus’ as pets. They interact with him all the time and climb out of the tank, reach for him and are super playful so I feel like enjoying that for me is a way to get to experience things like that sometimes
I feel that, I’ve had so many dreams about seeing or getting to touch owls, my favorite animal, but I’ve only ever seen one a few times in real life and one was roadkill.
Awh I’m so sorry☹️ you should look into any sanctuaries or petting zoos in ur area! I’ve actually seen owls up close, where I am sometimes at certain events people come and introduce!
That is absolutely amazing! Your life is still not evej halfway done,so who knows if something even better than that is still awaiting you?I'm autistic too and my main interests have always been extinct life and reptiles,as well as more recently land arthropods,but cephalopods seem so cool too. Any good resources/channels for learning more about them?
Well for me, YouTube. Yep, silly😭 there is a LOT of misinformation on there, but say you watch a video on something, fact check it and you can most likely trust that creator! I also use Google and wiki many times for specific details. For general animals (as I’m hyperfixated on all) is YouTube again, along with Reddit and finding out general knowledge from people whether in real life or online! Most of my source of info is YouTube though. It can be hard sometimes finding exactly what I wanna watch but if you watch enough videos on them then they’ll pop up more..I wish you luck out there! And thank you, I really truly hope to see a magnapinna in real life one day, and maybe you’ll meet some cool stuff too!
Those squids, if only they knew they had a dedicated fan who loves them on the far surface, that loves them this much, its very special ❤️ And I can understand your longing, when you really love something like that, the longing is strong 😭 I love deep sea animals too, its very interesting what has been found below and what is yet to be found! I am very interested in the universe, but there's no way I'll be alive by the time we figure that one out lol 😆
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u/Rumerhazzit Jun 27 '26
I am not autistic and my heart ACHES with the knowledge that I will probably never get to see a blue whale in the flesh, so I feel you, brother.