Exploring a legendary giant squid: an environmental DNA approach
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Exploring a legendary giant squid: an environmental DNA approach Toshifumi Wada1,2 · Hideyuki Doi3 · Daisuke Togaki4 · Ryotaro Kaida3 · Mariko Nagano3 · Izumi Katano5 · Masami Suzuki6 · Tetsuya Ohtani6 · Hiromune Mitsuhashi1,2 Received: 15 June 2020 / Accepted: 25 September 2020 © Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2020
Abstract The giant squid, Architeuthis dux, has been reported for centuries, but its distribution and ecology have remained famously mysterious. We investigated the A. dux distribution in the Sea of Japan using the environmental DNA (eDNA) method, which has recently been considered as a useful technique for evaluating the distributions of rare species. To develop the eDNA method to detect A. dux, we first created a species-specific polymerase chain reaction (PCR) primer–probe and tried to detect the eDNA in the western region of the Sea of Japan where A. dux has recently been observed. We successfully collected and amplified the A. dux eDNA in our study area using field water sampling and real-time PCR measurements. A. dux eDNA was detected in winter but not in summer, reflecting the historical record of A. dux observations in the region. The use of eDNA techniques could be a potential method for monitoring "invisible" and rare organisms, even in open ocean habitats.
Introduction The giant squid species, Architeuthis dux, has been reported as a legend as far back as the sixteenth century and earlier, but its distribution and ecology have remained famously mysterious (Kubodera and Mori 2005; Winkelmann et al. 2013; Coro et al. 2015; Wada et al. 2015). The species was primarily described from the carcasses of dead or moribund Toshifumi Wada: Deceased November 8, 2018. Toshifumi Wada and Hideyuki Doi contributed equally to this study. Responsible Editor: A. Zhan. Reviewed by undisclosed experts. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (https://doi.org/10.1007/s00227-020-03773-z) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. * Hideyuki Doi [email protected] 1
Institute of Natural and Environmental Sciences, University of Hyogo, Yayoigaoka 6, Sanda, Hyogo 669‑1546, Japan
2
Museum of Nature and Human Activities, Hyogo, Yayoigaoka 6, Sanda, Hyogo 669‑1546, Japan
3
Graduate School of Simulation Studies, University of Hyogo, 7‑1‑28, Minatojima‑minamimachi, Chuo‑ku, Kobe 650‑0047, Japan
animals found floating at the surface or washed up on beaches (Kubodera and Mori 2005) and occasionally, from fresh specimens caught during deep-sea trawling (Winkelmann et al. 2013). Architeuthis has been recorded in the marine areas worldwide since the sixteenth century, with a frequent record especially in the west Pacific around New Zealand and Japan, and in the southwest and North Atlantic (Guerra et al. 2011, Kubodera et al. 2018). The rarity of these observations makes A. dux distribution difficult to evaluate (Kubodera and Mori 2005; Winkelmann et al. 2013; Coro et al. 2015). Modern eDNA techniques are co
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