Discovered in the deep: tiny ‘sucker-bum squid’ with martial arts moves

The two species of pygmy squid the size of a fingernail live on Japanese coral reefs. Spotting them is a sign of a healthy ecosystem, say scientists

In Japan, stories have been told of forest-dwelling magical spirits called kodama since ancient times. Over the centuries, they’ve adopted many guises: sometimes they’re invisible, sometimes they look like trees. The Studio Ghibli animated movie Princess Mononoke portrayed kodama as rotund little humanoids with rotating bobble heads. Now, a genus of miniature squid has been named in honour of the kodama and their role as nature’s guardians.

“If you see them, it’s a sign that the ecosystem is healthy,” says Jeff Jolly from the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology, referring to Kodama jujutsu, the pygmy squid that he and a team of scientists and underwater photographers found on coral reefs in Japan and described in a 2023 paper.