The kraken is real...

[Ramius75]

If scary alien critters like that are in our own oceans, imagine whats waiting for us at Europa.

Actually, its those litttle things that we cant see that are scary...

 

[Rambuchan]

Stefan, be cool mon. We don't want to it (at least I don't). It's just for humour's sake and now you've ruined it all .

 

[Che Guava]

Interesting side note: I read a paper a while ago that made the claim that giant squid, not humans, were indeed the most advanced form of life on planet earth. I can't remember the details at the moment, but I'll try to find a link...

 

[Rambuchan]

That was the film Abyss wasn't it Che?

 

[Winner]

Does it have a hidden city on the bottom of an abyss

 

[Rambuchan]

You mean those things build cities?

 

[Che Guava]

Hmmm..possibly! This was a popular science peice, if I recall, but I can't seem to find it now...In the meantime (and while were on the topic of calamari) here's another recently published giant squid article from the "New Scientists"

The gruesome eating habits of the giant squid

Emma Young
378 words
30 July 2005
New Scientist
9
volume 187; issue 2510
English
(c) 2005, New Scientist, Reed Business Information UK, a division of Reed Elsevier, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

ENSHRINED in myth as ferocious beasts that upturned boats to munch on sailors, giant squid could have a diet that is even less palatable in reality: Architeuthis dux may indulge in cannibalism.

Identifying the prey of A. dux has not been easy because the squid finely macerate their food, the digestive systems of most specimens studied have been empty, and none has ever been examined alive.

Now Bruce Deagle of the University of Tasmania, Australia, and his team have analysed the gut contents of a male giant squid caught by fishermen off the west coast of Tasmania in 1999. Among the slurry of macerated prey, they found three tentacle fragments and 12 squid beaks. The beaks could not be unequivocally identified, but all of the squid DNA in the slurry, and the tentacle fragments, was found to be that of A. dux (Journal of Heredity , vol 96, p 417). "This strongly suggests cannibalism," says team member Simon Jarman of the Australian Antarctic Division in Kingston, Tasmania. The only other prey species identified was a fish, the blue grenadier.

Steve O'Shea and Kat Bolstad at the Auckland University of Technology in New Zealand were the first to find evidence of cannibalism in A. dux , in a female caught in New Zealand waters. They published their findings in the New Zealand Journal of Zoology last year. But O'Shea suspected the cannibalism was accidental.

"The male giant squid has to use a puny 15-gram brain to coordinate 150 kilograms of weight, 10 metres of length and a 1.5-metre-long penis," he says. "He physically plunges this penis into the female's arms, which are rather unfortunately right next to her beak. Because he is coordinating so much with so little, I think occasionally bits get chewed off when they inadvertently get too close to the beak."

However, the Tasmanian specimen is male. And other large squid, such as the jumbo squid, Moroteuthis ingens , are known to eat members of their own species, Jarman points out. The team therefore thinks the cannibalism is likely to be intentional. "It is interesting that cannibalism has been documented a second time in A. dux ," says O'Shea.

EDIT: hmmm...15-gram brain might put a hole in the 'most advanced' theory...

 

[Winner]

That was the film Abyss wasn't it Che?

Damn it, why can't I be the first with something for a change?

 

[Rambuchan]

I'll change my order from Calamari to the Pig Trotter Soup instead thanks. Ooops, sorry Stefan.

 

[Truronian]

"The male giant squid has to use a puny 15-gram brain to coordinate 150 kilograms of weight, 10 metres of length and a 1.5-metre-long penis," he says. "He physically plunges this penis into the female's arms, which are rather unfortunately right next to her beak. Because he is coordinating so much with so little, I think occasionally bits get chewed off when they inadvertently get too close to the beak."

Does the squid eat with its penis?

 

[Che Guava]

I think they just are close to each other...I think the genital duct follows the intestine and up towards the beak...any marine invetebrate zoologists out there?

 

[The Last Conformist]

Does the squid eat with its penis?

No, but the female may bite off bits of the penis that stray to close to her beak.

I thought giant squid were rather bulkier than 150kg, BTW - I've heard weights of 1-2 tons reported. Still, 150 kg is already very big by invertebrate standards.

 

[Tank_Guy#3]

The second pic in Rambuchan's post looks similar to the super vampires in blade two, somewhat. They've known that giant squids have existed for years, what's the big deal with seeing a live one.

Now they have to find la Chupacabra (sorry if the spelling is wrong), bigfoot/yetti, and the Loch Ness monster.

 

[Fox Mccloud]

This is great! Finally we discovered it!!! What took so long!!??

i love squid

I had squid once. It was like trying to eat a tire.....

 

[The Last Conformist]

This is great! Finally we discovered it!!! What took so long!!??

Well, this isn't a "discovery", just getting it on video for the first time. It took so long because the critters hide in the deep oceans, which are big, dark, and empty.

 

[Fox Mccloud]

Well, this isn't a "discovery", just getting it on video for the first time. It took so long because the critters hide in the deep oceans, which are big, dark, and empty.

Yeah, but with all the technology we have, you'd think it'd be easier to find!

This is little surprise to me. I always thought they existed. We have small Squids, so why wouldn't there be Squids that are 70 times bigger out there? Also, with all the daed ones, that is prove. It's not like anyone could make a big life like Giant Squid, and put it out in the middle of the ocean where the fisherman can find it for a joke....

 

[Riesstiu IV]

What's even more amazing is the fact that there is a species of squid even larger than the Giant Squid.

The Colossal Squid (Mesonychoteuthis hamiltoni) is the largest known type of squid and the only species in its genus, Mesonychoteuthis.

It hunts in the dark ocean via bioluminescence. This species was first discovered in 1925, in the form of two tentacles found in the stomach of a sperm whale. In 2003, a complete specimen was found near the surface of the Ross Sea. This specimen was larger than any other invertebrate known, with a total length of 6 meters (20 feet) and a mantle length of 2.5 meters (8 feet). Unlike the various giant squid species whose tentacles are equipped with suckers lined with small teeth, the tentacles of the Colossal Squid are tipped with a fierce mixture of suckers and swiveling hooks. The captured specimen is an immature female, leading to speculation that when fully grown the Colossal Squid may have a body length of 4 meters (13 feet) and total length of around 12 meters (39 feet) making it truly deserving of its name. This holding true, the Colossal Squid is only larger than the giant squids in mantle length.

While little is known about the life of this creature, many Sperm Whales carry scars on their backs believed to be caused by the hooks of colossal squid.

http://www.tonmo.com/science/public/giantsquidfacts.php

 

[The Last Conformist]

What will they call the next abyssal monster they haul up? Humongous squid?

 

[Lozzy_Ozzy]

Great stuff.

But, does this mean that giant squid did use to surface and attack vessels? Or were just spotted?

If so, why has it been rarer recently?

Or was it mainly myth...

Anywho, very interesting .

 

[Ultima Dragoon]

I had squid once. It was like trying to eat a tire.....

Then it was over-cooked. They should be fried moderately for a few minutes, just enough to cook the meat.