What do we know?

It was an unbelievable sight to be sure, everyone was sure of that, two great discoveries in one incredible video. Many scientists and biologists crowded the room only to be outnumbered by the skeptics who continually cracked that it was all an elaborate hoax by the Japanese researchers who sported the high definition video.

The translators for the Japanese researchers were scrambling to translate all the scientific jargon and specifics of what they had found. Very few could understand the hastily assembled translators and even fewer listened to them as they spouted out the specifics of Architeuthis.

Finally the moment everyone was waiting for. It had been agreed upon that they would watch the video in its entirety so as to rule out where any possible video editing might have occurred.

The video, which started out onboard the Atlantic research vessel, Atlantic Marvel, showed the familiar preparations of a research sub being prepped for a dive. The small submarine was capable of carrying a crew of three men for hours to depths of thousands of feet allowing them to research creatures rarely seen or documented by man. Even now as the sub made its hour long descent to the bottom of the Atlantic ridge, the skeptics and biologists in the room were anxious to fast forward.

The cameras outside the sub could record nothing with the lights off as the water surrounding the sub was completely pitch black. Someone finally stepped up and fast forwarded a bit.

Now the external lights were on and several microscopic jelly-like creatures could be seen floating around the mechanical arms of the sub.

The view changed now to a much wider angle view of the ocean bottom. People were stunned with the sight of an Architeuthis, or giant squid. The tentacles were moving lazily around as it hovered near the bottom of the ocean. The angle and view could not be more perfect, the dull white skin was perfectly contrasted by the giant rocks behind it and the high definition cameras caught the amazing detail. Every sucker could be seen on the tentacles and the giant eyes reflected the light back into the camera lens.

People were aghast at the images on the screen, but this was not the first video of a live giant squid, and this was not the part that had set the scientific community in an uproar. This was not the creature that had captured the imaginations and sparked the fears of millions.

The squid was looking almost directly at the sub and after a while was content just to sit near the bottom of the ocean with its clunky steel friend staring at it. Almost five minutes were captured of this amazing creature when something startled it. It tried to dart away when the rocks behind it shifted and opened up baring gigantic jagged white teeth. The creature grabbed a hold of the giant squid and flattened it in one gigantic gulp. The squid was no longer moving and was disappearing into the mouth of this sea giant.

The submarine was now moving, but the camera stayed fixed upon the giant creature that just managed to swallow one of the largest creatures on earth in one gulp. The powerful lights illuminated what was earlier thought to be rocks, but what turned out be some impossibly large creature lying on the ocean floor.

The whole ordeal lasted only a few minutes, and soon the sub was back at the surface broadcasting an emergency signal for the parent vessel to come and get it. The three men on board, a biologist, scientist, and oceanographer were still in shock over the events and had not spoken about it. No one really understood their shock until they viewed the footage themselves and realized that the sub was a mere twenty feet from the giant when it ate the giant squid.

The room was now quiet, not even the skeptics moved as the video ended. Finally someone got up and turned off the TV.
____________________

I originally titled this one "Sea Creatures", but I didn't think it did the story justice since it's making us wonder what do we really know about an ocean we have barely seen?