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Tue 27 Sep, 2005 07:04 pm
Reuters
Scientists capture giant squid on camera
LONDON (Reuters) - Japanese scientists have taken the first photographs of one of the most mysterious creatures in the deep ocean -- the giant squid.
Until now the only information about the behavior of the creatures which measure up to 18 meters (59 feet) in length has been based on dead or dying squid washed up on shore or captured in commercial fishing nets.
But Tsunemi Kubodera, of the National Science Museum, and Kyoichi Mori of the Ogasawara Whale Watching Association, both in Tokyo have captured the first images of Architeuthis attacking bait 900 meters (yards) below the surface in the cold, dark waters of the North Pacific.
"We show the first wild images of a giant squid in its natural environment," they said in a report on Wednesday in the journal Proceedings B of the Royal Society.
Little is known about the creatures because it has been so difficult to locate and study them alive. Large ships and specialist equipment, which is costly, are needed to study deep sea environments.
The Japanese scientists found the squid by following sperm whales, the most effective hunters of giant squid, as they gathered to feed between September and December in the deep waters off the coast of the Ogasawara Islands in the North Pacific.
They used a remote long-line camera and depth logging system to capture the giant squid in the ocean depths.
"The most dramatic character of giant squids is the pair of extremely long tentacles, distinct from the eight shorter arms. The long tentacles make up to two-thirds of the length of the dead specimens to date," the scientists said in the journal.
They added that the giant squid appear to be a much more active predator than researchers had suspected and tangled their prey in their elongated feeding tentacles.
So cool. Giant squid. Love 'em.
No good to eat, though.
Here's hoping that one of the other (many, apparently) pix they shot is better than this one:
Thanks littlek for the image. You're a treasure.
Bob
littlek have you got a link for that pic?
if you plug "giant squid pictures" into google news, you'll get it. I'm not there any more. Or, if you quote my post, you can nab the link from it.
Hey shewolf. I thought something like that would draw you out of your lair. Bless the bean. A once in a lifetime memory. I'm very happy for you.
I thought sperm whales were extinct....
Huh! Not extinct, but endangered.
DrewDad wrote:I thought sperm whales were extinct....
rumors of our demise were greatly exaggerated.
patiodog wrote:So cool. Giant squid. Love 'em.
No good to eat, though.
speak for yourself. i LOVE squid sushi--but it's made from regular squid.
Some are reportedly 60 feet long. You'd need a really big table.
Here's another pic ... scary!
... The deep sea pictures show squid are much more active and violent than first thought when attacking their prey.
... a squid tried to attack the bait, and when it realised it wasn't real food it escaped, but not before leaving a tentacle behind. That tentacle was 16ft (5.5m) long, suggesting the squid is around 24ft (around 8m) long.
source
The giant squid left one of its tentacles behind
Eeee .... nice.
And thats not the only news on giant squid this week ...
Quote:Weird sex: Giant squid do it deeper
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VIGO, Spain (25 Sep 2005) -- RESEARCH by marine scientists has shed startling new light on the secret sex life of the giant squid, one of the most mysterious monsters of the world's deepest oceans.
The breakthrough came after a recent spate of strandings on the Atlantic coast of Spain when five of the huge invertebrates - one of them 12 metres long - were washed ashore in a single week on beaches on the Bay of Biscay.
One of the two males washed ashore was found to have been accidentally inseminated - backing the findings of research in previous strandings.
And scientists now believe the males had either accidentally inseminated themselves during "violent" lovemaking sessions with females or been inseminated by other males after "bumping" into them in the dark depths of the ocean.
The new discovery is reported by a team of Spanish scientists at the Institute of Marine Research in Vigo in the latest edition of the monthly magazine of the International Council for the Exploration of the Seas.
The researchers state: "The giant squid, Architeuthis, is not only a cultural and media icon, but also a scientific enigma. Although it is among the largest living invertebrates ... most of our knowledge of its biology and ecology is still fragmented. So each time a giant squid is washed ashore or gets brought up in a fishing net, it provides a gold mine of information. A recent spate of strandings along the Spanish Atlantic coast has shed new light on their unique sexual behaviour in the ocean depths."
The report goes on:
"Although mating has never been observed in giant squid, it is thought that what happens is that the male injects his sperm packages into the female's arms. The process is likely to be a fairly violent affair as the female is probably not that keen on being injected. This is a problem for the amorous male as females are normally a third bigger than they are.
"But males get round their inferior size by being endowed with a particularly long penis, which means they can inject the female without having to get too close to her chomping beak. The male's sexual organ is actually a bit like a high-pressure fire hose and is normally nearly as long as his body - excluding legs and head.
"But having such a big penis does have one drawback: it seems that co-ordinating eight legs, two feeding tentacles and a huge penis, whilst fending off an irate female, is a bit too much to ask, and one of the two males stranded on the Spanish coast had accidentally injected himself with sperm packages in the legs and body. And this does not seem to have been an isolated incident since two of the eight males that had stranded in the north-east Atlantic before had also accidentally inseminated themselves.
"It is also possible that the sperm packages had come from other males that they had 'bumped' into, in the dark depths of the ocean. However, the sperm packages ended up in the squid - it is just another part of the mysterious lives of these creatures of the deep sea."
[..]
GIANT squid are not the only members of the natural world to display unusual sexual behaviour. In Australia, the male Yellow-footed Antechinus - a mouse-like marsupial - goes through such a frenzy of mating that they die of sexual stress. The female praying mantis often eats her partner during or after sex, while homosexual behaviour is also known in geese, ostriches, cichlid fish, rats and monkeys.
yitwail wrote:patiodog wrote:So cool. Giant squid. Love 'em.
No good to eat, though.
speak for yourself. i LOVE squid sushi--but it's made from regular squid.
Someone (probably more than one someone) has tried to eat giant squid. It's full of ammonia -- possibly a protection against the pressure in the ocean depths. Not very tasty.
Squid, calamari, whatever, I love.
This is so cool.
My question relates to nimh's link, above -- they tore an entire tentacle off the thing?? If it WAS the first hale and hearty one they'd seen, doncha think tearing off a tentacle might put a dent in that?
("Not that keen", eh?)