8-armed sea creature — with martial arts-like hunting method — found to be new species
Near a coral reef off the coast of Japan, an eight-armed sea creature searched for its next meal. The tiny animal used martial arts-like movements to grab and hold its prey.
The tentacled hunter caught the attention of divers and scientists. It turned out to be a new species.
Brandon Ryan Hannan first noticed the small squid while taking underwater photographs in the Ryukyu Islands in 2019, according to a study published Oct. 21 in the journal Marine Biology. Photos of the tiny, spotted squid intrigued researchers.
But “finding a small squid the size of a pinky fingernail is not easy,” study co-author Jeffrey Jolly told the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology in an Oct. 24 news release.
With the help of underwater photographers, researchers collected about 27 small squids and put them in aquariums, the study said. They analyzed the sea creatures and realized they’d discovered two new species.
The first new species was named Kodama jujutsu, or Hannan’s pygmy squid, researchers said. It has a “squat and rounded” body that can reach about 0.5 inches in length and has a “nipple-like” tip on one end. Its eight arms and two tentacles are covered in suckers.
Photos show Hannan’s pygmy squid. It has a gold, yellow or orange body covered in darker orange and brown spots. Straight on, its eyes appear silver. From the side, they look like blue-green blobs.
Hannan’s pygmy squid is “found around coral reefs and has been seen hunting and foraging after sunset,” researchers said. To catch its preferred prey of small shrimp, the squid uses a martial arts-like hunting method and grapples its next meal. A pair of photos show this process.
Researchers said they named the new species jujutsu after its hunting method. The squid’s common name references Brandon Ryan Hannan who “helped a lot collecting and photographing this squid,” Jolly told McClatchy News in an email.
The second new species was named Idiosepius kijimuna, or Ryukyu pygmy squid, the study said. It also has eight arms and two tentacles covered in suckers. Its body is “blunt” and “cylindrical,” reaching about 0.5 inches in length.
Photos show the Ryukyu pygmy squid swimming and attached to a plant. Its body is white or cream-colored and covered in brown, black and orange spots. Its eyes appear bright white in some of the photos.
Ryukyu pygmy squids live in “shallow seagrass beds in Okinawa” during the winter but vanish during the summer, according to the study. Researchers are unsure where they go during the warmer months.
The Ryukyu pygmy squid swims with “sudden and quick movements.”
Researchers said they named the new species after the Kijimunā, an elfin creature of Okinawa’s mythology that lives in banyan trees. The squid’s common name refers to the area where it lives.
The Ryukyu Islands are a chain of 55 islands in the west Pacific Ocean and stretch about 700 miles from southwest Japan to northeast Taiwan, according to Britannica. Okinawa is the largest island in the chain.
The new species were identified by their behavior, body shapes, other subtle physical features and DNA, the study said.
The research team included Amanda Reid, Noriyosi Sato, Jeffrey Jolly and Jan Strugnell.
This story was originally published October 27, 2023 at 1:12 PM with the headline "8-armed sea creature — with martial arts-like hunting method — found to be new species."
