Features

Mike P · #1

Holy Squid! Photos Offer First Glimpse of Live Deep-Sea Giant

September 27, 2005
Like something straight out of a Jules Verne novel, an enormous tentacled creature looms out of the inky blackness of the deep Pacific waters.

But this isn't science fiction. A set of extraordinary images captured by Japanese scientists marks the first-ever record of a live giant squid (Architeuthis) in the wild.

The animal—which measures roughly 25 feet (8 meters) long—was photographed 2,950 feet (900 meters) beneath the North Pacific Ocean. Japanese scientists attracted the squid toward cameras attached to a baited fishing line.

The scientists say they snapped more than 500 images of the massive cephalopod before it broke free after snagging itself on a hook. They also recovered one of the giant squid's two longest tentacles, which severed during its struggle.

The photo sequence, taken off Japan's Ogasawara Islands in September 2004, shows the squid homing in on the baited line and enveloping it in "a ball of tentacles."

Tsunemi Kubodera of the National Science Museum in Tokyo and Kyoichi Mori of the Ogasawara Whale Watching Association report their observations this week in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B.

"Architeuthis appears to be a much more active predator than previously suspected, using its elongated feeding tentacles to strike and tangle prey," the researchers write.

They add that the squid was found feeding at depths where no light penetrates even during the day.

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I just thought this was pretty cool.

Mike P · #2

Here's the link to the article: Giant Squid Pictures

Also, I realized the Japanese were the ones to photograph the squid. It's only a matter of time, then, until they capture one and create live-action tentacle rape.

kellychaos · #3

I bet you its beak can bite into a human head as if it's a grape and then suck all your bodily juice out of an orange-sized hole.

Do they squirt digestive enzymes into like some insects do so they can suck on you like a Capri Sun juice pouch?

Mike P · #4

I don't know. Hopefully, those Japanese scientists are in the process of setting up experiments like that.

Watch, one of the scientists is going to fall into the water, a giant squid will eat them, they'll gain a taste for human, and we'll all be screwed.

kahljorn · #5

there's been pictures of giant squid for a while.. there was an experiment in australia(which is usually where they are) where they tried to catch one(a baby to grow in a zoo like enviroment). I guess they turn up on various beaches in australia dead, tons of them.. it's no mystery.
the giant squid thing i watched was actually on the discovery channel.

kellychaos · #6

The ones I saw on a documentary lived off the coast of northeast South America (Costa Rica?) and were blue (neaqr to transluscent) when calm and reddish when agitated ... mood squids. They were only about 8-10 feet long, though.

kahljorn · #7

yea.. i think squids like alot of water and not much land, because i remember it said they always found them near some island and that's where they went looking for them. It might have been new zealand, or just one of those various tiny islands arond there...
These ones were pretty big....22 feet, maybe more(i know they had one on a lab table and they measured it, i think they were going to give it an autoposy or something to see what kind of food he had been eatting and other info)? Did you know they fight sperm whales alot? Seems like some kind of hilarious fantasy fight. "Only virgin's can find the precious sperm whale". What a moral.

Mike P · #8

Ah, but this photographed one that was still alive.

ArrowX · #9

It lost its arm

Marine · #10

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mike P

Here's the link to the article: Giant Squid Pictures

Also, I realized the Japanese were the ones to photograph the squid. It's only a matter of time, then, until they capture one and create live-action tentacle rape.

´

are you sure thats not... Ctulhu?

Mike P · #11

If it was Cthulhu, then your eyes would melt from simply looking at the picture. If there was a picture at all, as Cthulhu would have destroyed the sub and everyone on it.

Marine · #12

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mike P

If it was Cthulhu, then your eyes would melt from simply looking at the picture. If there was a picture at all, as Cthulhu would have destroyed the sub and everyone on it.

but ctulhu was stopped by a boat before so maybe he was careful