Live Giant Squid Filmed

Sharp-kun · Post by **Sharp-kun** » 2006-12-22 10:47pm

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/help/3681938.stm

Would be a rather cool pet. ^_^

Pick · Post by **Pick** » 2006-12-22 11:07pm

Sweet! I love those guys!

Post by **LadyTevar** » 2006-12-22 11:12pm

Because its' nice to post TEXT as well, Sharp-kun...

CNN wrote:Researchers catch giant squid
Story Highlights
•Team films live giant squid for first time
•Researchers say species not endangered
•Longest giant squid on record is 60 feet
•Whales, large sharks feed on giant squid

TOKYO, Japan (AP) -- A Japanese research team has succeeded in filming a giant squid live -- possibly for the first time -- and says the elusive creatures may be more plentiful than previously believed, a researcher said Friday.

The research team, led by Tsunemi Kubodera, videotaped the giant squid at the surface as they captured it off the Ogasawara Islands south of Tokyo earlier this month. The squid, which measured about 24-feet long, died while it was being caught.

"We believe this is the first time anyone has successfully filmed a giant squid that was alive," said Kubodera, a researcher with Japan's National Science Museum. "Now that we know where to find them, we think we can be more successful at studying them in the future." (Watch researchers pull in giant squidVideo)

Giant squid, formally called Architeuthis, are the world's largest invertebrates. Because they live in the depths of the ocean, they have long been wrapped in mystery and embellished in the folklore of sea monsters, appearing in ancient Greek myths or attacking the submarine in Jules Verne's "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea."

The captured squid was caught using a smaller type of squid as bait, and was pulled into a research vessel "after putting up quite a fight," Kubodera said.

"It took two people to pull it in, and they lost it once, which might have caused the injuries that killed it," he said.

The squid, a female, was not fully grown and was relatively small by giant squid standards. The longest one on record is 60 feet, he said.

Kubodera and his team had been conducting expeditions in the area for about three years before they succeeded in making their first contact two years ago. Last year, the team succeeded in taking a series of still photos of one of the animals in its natural habitat -- also believed to have been a first.

Until the team's successes, most scientific study of the creatures had to rely on partial specimens that had washed ashore dead or dying or had been found in the digestive systems of whales or very large sharks.

Kubodera said whales led his team to the squid. By finding an area where whales fed, he believed he could find the animals. He also said that, judging by the number of whales that feed on them, there may be many more giant squid than previously thought.

"Sperm whales need from 500 to 1,000 kilograms (1,100-2,200 pounds) of food every day," he said. "There are believed to be 200,000 or so of them, and that would suggest there are quite a few squid for them to be feeding on. I don't think they are in danger of extinction at all."

Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Sharp-kun · Post by **Sharp-kun** » 2006-12-22 11:24pm

LadyTevar wrote:Because its' nice to post TEXT as well, Sharp-kun...

[/quote]
The beeb only had a video when I found it.

Crossroads Inc. · Post by **Crossroads Inc.** » 2006-12-22 11:37pm

Except it's not video.. it's on ly Still photos... Anmd it's not recent, its dated Sep of 05!

Sharp-kun · Post by **Sharp-kun** » 2006-12-22 11:47pm

Crossroads Inc. wrote:Except it's not video.. it's on ly Still photos... Anmd it's not recent, its dated Sep of 05!

oO

The beeb had it on the world front page as a video earlier tonight.

Crossroads Inc. · Post by **Crossroads Inc.** » 2006-12-22 11:58pm

Sharp-kun wrote:
Crossroads Inc. wrote:Except it's not video.. it's on ly Still photos... Anmd it's not recent, its dated Sep of 05!
oO

The beeb had it on the world front page as a video earlier tonight.

My mistake, i followed a "related" link which I htought was the one your where positng.

Nieztchean Uber-Amoeba · Post by **Nieztchean Uber-Amoeba** » 2006-12-23 11:24am

The Beeb news player hates me.

Shinova · Post by **Shinova** » 2006-12-23 09:30pm

It hates me too. But I think I know which story this is, and it's pretty old.

Maraxus · Post by **Maraxus** » 2006-12-23 11:20pm

No, it's new.

OKYO (Reuters) - Its mass of reddish tentacles flailing, a giant squid fought a losing battle to evade capture in a video unveiled by Japanese scientists on Friday.

Images of the squid -- a relatively small female about 3.5 meters (11 ft 6 in) long and weighing 50 kg (110 lb) -- were the ultimate prize for zoologists at the National Science Museum, who have been pursuing one of the ocean's most mysterious creatures for years.

"Nobody has ever seen a live giant squid except fishermen," team leader Tsunemi Kubodera of the museum's zoology department said in an interview on Friday. "We believe these are the first ever moving pictures of a giant squid."

Little was known until recently about the creature thought to have inspired the myth of the "kraken", a tentacled monster that was blamed by sailors for sinking ships off Norway in the 18th century.

Photo

The top news, photos, and videos of 2006. Full Coverage

Unconfirmed reports say giant squid can grow up to 20 meters long, but according to scientists they are unlikely to pose a threat to ships because they spend their lives hundreds of meters under the sea.

The Japanese research team tracked giant squid by following their biggest predators -- sperm whales -- as they gathered to feed near the Ogasawara islands, 1,000 km (620 miles) south of Tokyo between September and December.

They succeeded in taking the first still photographs of a living giant squid in 2005, observing that it moved around in the water more actively than previously thought, and captured food by entangling prey in its powerful tentacles.

The latest specimen, whose formalin-preserved carcass was displayed at a news conference at the museum in Tokyo, was caught on a baited hook laid 650 meters (2,150 ft) under the sea off the Ogasawara islands, on December 4, the scientists said.

A squid about 55 cm (21.65 inches) in length had been attracted by the bait and the giant squid was hooked when it tried to eat the smaller squid, the scientists said.

I guess the first giant squid's sighting wasn't actually a video, but rather a series of still-frame pictures. This is the first Giant Squid on video.[/img]

Setesh · Post by **Setesh** » 2006-12-24 01:06am

youtube link to same video

Holy Calamari Batman!!!

The Grim Squeaker · Post by **The Grim Squeaker** » 2006-12-24 01:12am

Incredible, to think that so recently we thought that this ancient specie was a myth or extinct, and now we know that it exists.
Wonder why its taking so long for hunting licenses to be printed out so that it can be hunted into extinction?

AK-047 · Post by **AK-047** » 2006-12-24 05:57am

Doesn't it live at depths too deep for any average fisher to hunt?