Overview
- Scientists detected traces of giant squid using environmental DNA in six samples from the Cape Range and Cloates canyons, marking the first such record off Western Australia and the northernmost in the eastern Indian Ocean.
- The Western Australian Museum–led team on Schmidt Ocean Institute’s R/V Falkor used environmental DNA, or genetic traces shed into seawater, to sample from the surface to about 4,510 meters and log 226 species across 11 major groups.
- Dozens of those species had not been recorded in Western Australian waters before, including sleeper sharks, faceless cusk eels and the slender snaggletooth.
- The study found that communities change with depth and between the neighboring canyons, showing distinct ecosystems that traditional cameras and nets often miss.
- Researchers matched eDNA reads with genetic references from ROV SuBastian specimens now archived at the WA Museum, creating a baseline to guide marine park planning and long-term monitoring.