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Giant Squid Action, get it here

stubeeef

stubeeef

macrumors 68030
Original poster
Aug 10, 2004
2,715
4
Well no links to the video yet, so make up your own ideas after reading this sushi filled story.

TOKYO - The giant squid can be found in books and in myths, but for the first time, a team of Japanese scientists has captured one of the most mysterious creatures of the deep-sea on film in its natural habitat.

The team led by Tsunemi Kubodera, from the National Science Museum in Tokyo, tracked the 26-foot long Architeuthis as it attacked prey nearly 3,000 feet deep off the coast of Japan's Bonin islands.

"We believe this is the first time a grown giant squid has been captured on camera in its natural habitat," said Kyoichi Mori, a marine researcher who co-authored a piece in Wednesday's issue of the Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences.

The camera was operated by remote control during research at the end of October 2004, Mori told The Associated Press on Wednesday.

Mori said the giant squid, purplish red like its smaller brethren, attacked its quarry aggressively, calling into question the image of the animal as lethargic and slow moving.

"Contrary to belief that the giant squid is relatively inactive, the squid we captured on film actively used its enormous tentacles to go after prey," Mori said.

"It went after some bait that we had on the end of the camera and became stuck, and left behind a tentacle" about six yards long, Mori said.
Click to expand...
 
Sea life freaks me out.

Squids especially.

I'm a sissy.

/will NOT have an aquarium in her office
//I'll have a giant tank though
///I'll fill it with pudding
 
This is really cool! One of those things you don't think about but always hopped would happen in your lifetime. Now they just need to find a big foot!
 
Man, they've been sitting on this since last October?!? I hope the video comes out soon. Perhaps they were waiting until they'd finished feasting on the 18-foot tentacle. ;)
 
awesome, i always think that we never know enough about sea life, its a mystery to use still, glad that we are still exploring it though. Giant Squid have been elusive, i'm looking forward to seeing the video.
 
Billions of Blue Blistering Barnacles!

What a great find. Especially since the creature was seen within it's natural habitat and all.

I really do hope that there is a video of the underseas action soon. This is one of those stories that could use some really nice images.
 
Ah yes, the giant squid. Always thought they were fascinating and if they've actually got video of a live one...show it, please! Every time I hear of this, I keep thinking back to one of the cheesiest/funniest ending quotes from a Discovery Channel special: "But in the end, victory goes to the King of the Ancient Squids." Who writes that stuff? :p
 
Wait a sec, this doesn't add up....

A six meter tentacle was "left behind" (i.e. ripped off).
The squid is 26 feet.
Something's not right.... do they mean the length of the animal (not including tentacles) is 26 feet? because THAT would be huge. Eck.

And where's the damn link? I want PROOF, damn you.
 
pdpfilms said:
Wait a sec, this doesn't add up....

A six meter tentacle was "left behind" (i.e. ripped off).
The squid is 26 feet.
Something's not right.... do they mean the length of the animal (not including tentacles) is 26 feet? because THAT would be huge. Eck.

And where's the damn link? I want PROOF, damn you.
Click to expand...
Here's a link to the BBC's report on it, if that makes you feel any better... ;)

I think I'm right in saying that only part of the tentacle broke off, not the whole limb – and the reports I've read suggest that the crew only took photographs, not video footage, which is a shame.

Here's the portion of severed tentacle – nice!
 

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Jaffa Cake said:
Here's a link to the BBC's report on it, if that makes you feel any better... ;)

I think I'm right in saying that only part of the tentacle broke off, not the whole limb – and the reports I've read suggest that the crew only took photographs, not video footage, which is a shame.

Here's the portion of severed tentacle – nice!
Click to expand...

Here's the CNN report with another pic:

squilink
 
I just saw the video of this on ITV news, the video was almost a time lapse thing with a frame every few seconds, but it gave a clear enough picture of how this thing moved.

Scary scary sealife!
 
krimson said:
i've been interested in the giant squid for a long time now. I finally get to see it, sort of. :D
Click to expand...


me too, this is why i loved seeing this article! the oceans are the least explored and understood places on earth. we've been to the moon but we dont know what certain sounds are in the deep oceans (picked up by our microphones in the deep). kinda spooky but oh so cool.
 
That is awesome, I was wondering how long it would take to see a live giant squid. We have known that they existed for a while because of the bodies that wash up on shore but never actually found one alive.

26ft seems small for a giant squid. I know that they can get to 50 or possibly a 100 feet long, or maybe I don't remember correctly. I KNOW that they have at least found one that was 50ft.
 
Oh, I forgot, I believe squid can have somewhat retractable tentacles, so it could have been 6 meters long but 1 or 2 meters were actually inside the body not contributing to the overall length.
 
Man... that's a 50-foot "wingspan" as it were. One end of my house to the other, with a giant squid-head in the middle.

*** shivers ***
 
Somewhere a Japanese taven owner is watching the story and thinking "That's a lot of bar snacks...."
 
You guys never seen a giant squid before? I am talking squids the size of whales. They exist out there. Trust me. We've only explored 10% of the marine life in the oceans.
 
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