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Coffee House => Coffee House Boards => CH / Science and Technology => Topic started by: Vincent on September 28, 2005, 04:23:49 PM

Title: Architeuthis (Giant Squid to the uninformed)
Post by: Vincent on September 28, 2005, 04:23:49 PM
For those who like underwater stuff, here's something interesting. (from bbc (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4288772.stm#))

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A live, adult giant squid has been caught on camera in the wild for the very first time.

Japanese researchers took pictures of the elusive creature hunting 900m down, enveloping its prey by coiling its tentacles into a ball.


Now lets see if they can find the Colossal Squid and get that on tape :-D
Title: Re: Architeuthis (Giant Squid to the uninformed)
Post by: odin on September 28, 2005, 05:02:12 PM
!!!!

Cool!
Title: Re: Architeuthis (Giant Squid to the uninformed)
Post by: Vincent on September 28, 2005, 06:17:31 PM
Just a pity a tentacle was lost in the process, but what a souvenir that would be :-D
Title: Re: Architeuthis (Giant Squid to the uninformed)
Post by: Wilse on September 28, 2005, 06:59:40 PM
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Just a pity a tentacle was lost in the process


I thought that was a shame too.

Don't squid grow them back, though?
Title: Re: Architeuthis (Giant Squid to the uninformed)
Post by: asian1 on September 29, 2005, 06:05:09 AM
"Squiddly Diddly" was a great Cartoon TV Show:

http://www.cartoonnetwork.com.au/asp/scrapbook/SquiddlyDiddly/default.asp

Giant Squids have highly developed eye and brain.
Title: Re: Architeuthis (Giant Squid to the uninformed)
Post by: odin on September 29, 2005, 10:45:22 AM
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asian1 wrote:
Giant Squids have highly developed eye and brain.

Tiny squids too....
Title: Re: Architeuthis (Giant Squid to the uninformed)
Post by: Turambar on September 29, 2005, 11:13:38 AM
Cthulhu lives......
Title: Re: Architeuthis (Giant Squid to the uninformed)
Post by: Vincent on September 29, 2005, 12:53:05 PM
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Turambar wrote:
Cthulhu lives......

:lol:

I just changed my avatar on Tuesday.  Maybe my brain knew something I didn't :-D

All squid, octopi and cuttle fish have great brains and eyes.

@Wilse

I *think* they do, but it's been a while since I did anything squid related.  And Sioux's not here to ask ;-)
Title: Re: Architeuthis (Giant Squid to the uninformed)
Post by: Turambar on September 29, 2005, 02:56:59 PM
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I just changed my avatar on Tuesday. Maybe my brain knew something I didn't


Been having any strange dreams recently, any urges to create strange clay sculptures with other worldly symbols on them?
Title: Re: Architeuthis (Giant Squid to the uninformed)
Post by: Vincent on September 29, 2005, 03:32:07 PM
Unfortunately not :-(

It'll be pretty easy for me to chuck earth and stones into the house through the kitchen window when I do :-D
Title: Re: Architeuthis (Giant Squid to the uninformed)
Post by: Tigger on September 29, 2005, 05:17:11 PM
Yeah they grow back.   Haven't had a squid in a tank before, but Octopi are a handful keeping in the tank, they like to slip out and can do so through the smallest holes, and then of course are on land not doing so well.
     -Tig
Title: Re: Architeuthis (Giant Squid to the uninformed)
Post by: asian1 on September 29, 2005, 06:36:36 PM
If the giant squid can live on the ground, will the creature become the deadliest predator on ground?

Deadly battle between giant squid and whales:

From UnMuseum:

We know the giant squid tangles with whales from eye-witness accounts. In October 1966, two lighthouse keepers at Danger Point, South Africa, observed a baby southern right whale under attack from a giant squid. For an hour and a half the monster clung to the whale trying to drown it as the whale's mother watched helplessly. "The little whale could stay down for 10 to 12 minutes, then come up. It would just have enough time to spout - only two or three seconds - and then down again." The squid finally won and the baby whale was never seen again.
Giant Squid have been seen in battle with adult whales too. In 1965, a Soviet whaler watched a battle between a squid and a 40 ton sperm whale. In this case neither were victorious. The strangled whale was found floating in the sea with the squid's tentacles wrapped around the whale's throat. The squid's severed head was found in the whale's stomach.
Sperm whales eat squid and originally it had been thought that such battles were the result of a sperm whale taking on a squid that was just too large to be an easy meal. The incident with the Brunswick might suggest otherwise.
The Brunswick was a 15,000 ton auxiliary tanker owned by the Royal Norwegian Navy. In the 1930's it was attacked at least three times by giant squid. In each case the attack was deliberate as the squid would pull along side of the ship, pace it, then suddenly turn, run into the ship and wrap it's tentacles around the hull. The encounters were fatal for the squid. Since the animal was unable to get a good grip on the ship's steel surface, the animals slid off and fell into the ship's propellers.
Perhaps, for some unknown reason, the Brunswick looked like a whale to the squids. This might suggest that the sperm whale is not always the aggressor in the battles. In fact, though many sperm whales have been captured, few of their stomachs seemed to contain parts of giant squids (though smaller squids seem to provide a large portion of the sperm whale's diet)
Title: Re: Architeuthis (Giant Squid to the uninformed)
Post by: Vincent on September 29, 2005, 06:45:18 PM
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Tigger wrote:
Yeah they grow back.

Dang, I didn't need to ask Sioux as soon as she got back then :-P

If an octopus' beak can fit through a hole then they can get through it.

Seen one on land in a documentary once.  It came out of the water onto some rocks for some reason - possibly to get food.  It looked very wierd.  I've never seen anything like that since.
Title: Re: Architeuthis (Giant Squid to the uninformed)
Post by: asian1 on September 30, 2005, 02:30:07 PM
There is another species of large squid armed with hooks: Colossal Squid (Mesonychoteuthis hamiltoni).

The size of the mantle / head is 4 m, larger than giant squid, but the tentacle is shorter. The size of giant squid's tentacle: 66 feet (more than 20 m).

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

"No mature Mesonychoteuthis is known. Based on the size of beaks recovered from sperm whale stomach contents it is estimated that it attains a mantle length of 2—4 m, which would render it considerably larger than Architeuthis"
Title: Re: Architeuthis (Giant Squid to the uninformed)
Post by: Vincent on September 30, 2005, 06:47:47 PM
Quote

asian1 wrote:
There is another species of large squid armed with hooks: Colossal Squid (Mesonychoteuthis hamiltoni).

As I said in my first post - I hope they can get a film of that one.

The size of it is immense!
Title: Re: Architeuthis (Giant Squid to the uninformed)
Post by: Karlos on October 01, 2005, 12:41:31 PM
Man, that is a lot of kalamari :lol:
Title: Re: Architeuthis (Giant Squid to the uninformed)
Post by: X-ray on October 01, 2005, 01:56:49 PM
mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm calamari

(smacks my lips)

The best I had was in a little restaurant in George (Eastern Cape). It was lightly crumbed, ever-so-perfectly complimented with a subtle lemon and butter dressing, served on a bed of long grain rice with a few onion rings and assorted dips on the side.

Oh jeez (get a slightly pained look on my face, as in the throes of coitus)
Title: Re: Architeuthis (Giant Squid to the uninformed)
Post by: Karlos on October 01, 2005, 06:01:33 PM

"Sorry... I've just come."

Title: Re: Architeuthis (Giant Squid to the uninformed)
Post by: X-ray on October 01, 2005, 08:23:00 PM
Never before dessert, my good man, never before dessert....
Title: Re: Architeuthis (Giant Squid to the uninformed)
Post by: T_Bone on October 02, 2005, 04:22:08 AM
 :lol: