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Wed 2 Jul, 2003 04:30 pm
Science - Reuters
Giant Sea Creature Baffles Chilean Scientists
Tue Jul 1, 3:05 PM ET Add Science - Reuters to My Yahoo!
SANTIAGO, Chile (Reuters) - Chilean scientists were baffled on Tuesday by a huge, gelatinous sea creature found washed up on the southern Pacific coast and were seeking international help identifying the mystery specimen.
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AFP
Slideshow: Giant Sea Creature Baffles Chilean Scientists
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The dead creature was mistaken for a beached whale when first reported about a week ago, but experts who went to see it said the 40-foot-long mass of decomposing lumpy gray flesh apparently was an invertebrate.
"We'd never before seen such a strange specimen, We don't know if it might be a giant squid that is missing some of its parts or maybe it's a new species," said Elsa Cabrera, a marine biologist and director of the Center for Cetacean Conservation in Santiago.
Photographs showed a round leathery substance like a mammoth jelly fish, about as long as a school bus.
Giant squid live at a depth of 9,500 feet and only rise to the surface when they die. Specimens have been known to be as long as 60 feet.
There was speculation that the mass might be a whale skin, but Cabrera said it was too big and did not have the right texture or smell.
Cabrera said she was contacting Chilean and international organizations in the hope that they could help shed some light on the find.
The Chilean Navy first spotted the mystery specimen along with another large mass, but the other dead animal turned out to be a dead humpback whale.
Calimari for everyone!
And I mean everyone. :-D
Hmmmmmm. The msn article had a lot of quotes from a dude at Monterey Bay Aquarium who seems to suspect that tests are likely to reveal it to be a whale skin or some sort of plankton colony, but I'm waiting with bated (or baited, as 'twere) breath on this one. I love it when stuff comes out of the ocean that people can't make sense of. "What the hell is this?" "We thought this went extinct 100 million years ago!" Love that stuff.
CHILE HAS A NAVY? ill bet they keep their Mercruiser mechanics busy
sort of. peru has lima, chile has navy. after all, what's chili without a bean?
farmerman, maybe you don't know there is a Chilean navy.
The CIA knew there is a Chilean navy. In 1973, it gave the Chilean navy the names of "Marxist journalists, agents of international Communism and anyone and all the people who had vigorously participated in left wing neighbor associations, community associations and national associations".
The names were divided in two groups: not famous but important left-wing organizers, and famous persons. The first group, around 20 thousand, was murdered. The second group, around three thousand, was imprisoned.
How could the CIA do this without any protest from the American people?
Because most of the American people find it funny that there is even a Chilean navy.
(and maybe the giant squid is a kraken: a sign that times are circular)
Tonight I told my son to clean up his room because it was a toxic waste dump. My wife said that technically it was not a hazardous waste dump until it was declared so under the USEPA CERCLA statutes. This being the correct logical determination, I told my son to clean up his room OR we would have the EPA declare it a hazardous waste dump.
You normally dont think of Chile as one of the major seapowers like Libya or Iran.Therefore, I restate my question
\CHILE has a navy as big as Libya or Iran?
Bigger than the Swiss navy, for sure.
No wonder, how did they let you out of the water Archie -toothless?
Oy
I don't know what this creature is, but as a Jew I must say that I certainly hope it is not messiah.
The Swiss couldn't fit a boat into those fold-up knives, so hence, they have no navy.
as the old joke goes...
The Swiss Navy
and
The Russian Department of Justice
The squid's name wasn't Henry, was it?
I'm pretty sure it's Dick Cheney...
There was an article in the paper stating that it was no giant squid but a whale which had begun to deteriate. Mystery solved.
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