New Deep Sea Squid 190
texchanchan writes: "Yahoo reports on a newly discovered species of deep-sea squid, quoting scientists as saying the creatures are very different from normal giant squids. 'New species are a dime a dozen. This is fundamentally different' in behavior and appearance -- with 10 identical long skinny arms and a jellyfish-like hunting strategy. 'We don't know of any cephalopod that has arms like that.' --Michael Vecchione of the U.S. National Marine Fisheries Service. 'I had never seen anything like this creature,' oceanographer William Sager of Texas A&M says."
squidish (Score:5, Interesting)
A Soviet tanker in 1965 came across a battle between a giant squid and a sperm whale that would have weighed around 40 tonnes. The fight continued for some time and finished far below in the depths, beyond the range of the tanker's sonar equipment. About an hour after the sighting the strangled body of the whale was found floating in the ocean. It still had the giant squid wrapped around its body. But the squid did not win - its head was found inside the stomach of the whale!
Re:squidish (Score:3, Interesting)
This new squid looks like a half-breed Manta Ray/Squid.
I couldn't get enough of Discovery Channel's Search for the a Giant Squid [discovery.com]
Re:squidish (Score:2)
The file you reference mentions the story, but doesn't claim it's a myth (it doesn't claim otherwise either).
It sounds like whales prey on the squid, but not vice-versa. It's possible that this particular whale just took a squid that was too large for it.
Nice quotes there, Mr "Scientist" (Score:2, Funny)
``These are real mystery,'' said Michael Vecchione of the National Marine Fisheries Service and the National Museum of Natural History in Washington. He describes the squid in Friday's issue of the journal Science.
``They behave strangely but they also look really weird,'' he said in an interview.
and
``I think those long extensions are really sticky,'' Vecchione guessed.
<mockery>
Vecchione was also heard to say, "I think those really really sticky extenstions could hold the Incredible Hulk" and "my really weird squid could beat up your stupid old giant squid."
When asked why he thought the extensions were "really sticky" and not "somewhat sticky" he replied, "well, I don't know, but wouldn't it be really cool if they were?"
</mockery>
Re:squidish (Score:1)
A caveat for any other documentary fanatics:
Beware all documentaries entitled "Search for the (something)". .
Re:squidish (Score:2, Funny)
Re:squidish (Score:5, Informative)
Referenced in several places [unmuseum.org], along with claims that Architeuthis will aggressively attack whales and ships. Bear in mind though, that the beak of an Architeuthis only opens a few inches, and is ill suited to eating anything as large as a human, let alone a 40 ton whale or a 15,000 ton ship!
This new species is certainly unusual (compared to the surface beasties that we're used to), but bear in mind that it's part of a subclass that varies in length from 6mm to 16,000mm (and nearly half a ton, that we know of).
Re:squidish (Score:2)
That beak doesn't have to open all that far if it can pull its prey apart first. ISTR reading some reference to a "sea monster" that was likely an Architeuthis dux trying to tear a rudder off a World War I troopship.
Re:squidish (Score:1)
But from the results you can't tell if it's true
First one will say it's a mith, second it could be true, a few witness reports and more mith saying here and there....
Propulsion? (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Propulsion? (Score:3, Informative)
It doesn't use the tentacles for swimming, according to the story on NPR yesterday. It has a pair of elephant-ear-shaped wings on top of the body, which give it both good speed and fine control, and make it to hover while it's feeding.
Current conjecture is that the tentacles are "sticky" (whether due to a substance or suction mechanisms, they didn't say). One specimen that was actually caught on video seems to be "stuck" to the submersible that was shooting the video, and coudn't easily get free. The squid appears to spread the tentacles much like a spider's web, hoping to snag smal crustaceans that bump into it.
Re:Propulsion? (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Propulsion? (Score:3, Insightful)
Question? (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Question? (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Question? (Score:1)
just wait (Score:2, Funny)
Then the pods will come and duke it out with the Great Dark Lord. This is pretty cool. First, we had FotR come out this week. Now, Lovecraftian sea beings are being discovered.
At least it wasn't discovered at Innsmouth.
squidditch (Score:2, Funny)
Sashimi chefs are waiting... (Score:3, Funny)
japanese article translated (badly automatically) (Score:2)
I compromise on the way and turn and, seems to be "a bone of a folding umbrella" at all and can see an arm of this cuttlefish, and a unique figure seems to be the result that adapted itself to the deep sea, but it is watched even if the, detailed habits don't share it, and there is much water, and a cuttlefish to finish compares, to to the deep sea because, meat is too soft and eats it that I am not delicious.
Re:Sashimi chefs are waiting... (Score:2, Funny)
That's because the Japanese already have a vast body of work about creatures with long sticky tentacles.
Cracken (Score:1)
Re:Cracken (Score:1)
Re:Cracken (Score:1)
Re:Cracken (Score:2)
The most plausible explanation (Score:4, Funny)
I remember reading about these huge squids as a child. It's really cool to have a genuine mystery here, it's just sad that before long it'll get studied and filmed and explained and I can't hope for the Cthulhu link anymore.
Did they ever discover any unexplained ruins in the Antarctic or in central Australia?
Re:The most plausible explanation (Score:2, Funny)
Re:The most plausible explanation (Score:1)
Re:The most plausible explanation (Score:2)
Re:The most plausible explanation (Score:1)
relevant link: Cthulu for president, why vote for a lesser evil? [cthulhu.org]
Re:The most plausible explanation (Score:2)
>
> You mean they're not already?!?!
Probably not. Cthulhu has better taste than that.
(Which is a pity, as I'd pay good money to see Hilary Rosen and Jack Valenti as crunchy Cthulhu-snacks. I'd offer 'em to Yog-Sothoth, but he's not interested... they ain't got no souls to eat.)
Re:The most plausible explanation (Score:1)
(wait for it)
Suicide Squid! [news]
How sqidish (Score:2, Informative)
Apeal to authority (Score:2)
Re:Apeal to authority (Score:1)
Re:Apeal to authority (Score:1, Offtopic)
Re:Apeal to authority (Score:1)
And sorry autopr0n, but you were being an ass. I figured slashdot, out of all places, would never question a question of authority. (Jee, it's the RECORD COMPANY that said mp3'z are ill3g4l. I think they know what they are talking about cause they know music!
Re:Apeal to authority (Score:5, Informative)
Some very significant differences. They have differentiated tissue-muscles separate from skin, an actual digestive tract, and probably the most-developed nervous system of all of the invertebrates, including eyes structured similarly to ours. Squid also have an actual circulatory system, but something that actually functions almost like a heart. And squids are actually bilaterally symmetrical. In plain English, that means there's one plane down which you can split a squid, and the two parts will be mirror images of each other.
OTOH, jellyfish are like anemones and hydrae. That means they're undifferentiated. Their tissues are only two cells thick, because each cell needs to be exposed to seawater in order to get oxygen or nutrients. They're undifferentiated, meaning they don't have different types of cells. They have no real nervous system at all. Nor do they have a circulatory system. They're radially symmetrical, meaning that any radial section will be pretty much identical to any other.
Re:Apeal to authority (Score:2)
Well, maybe it isn't that simple.
Re:How sqidish (Score:5, Informative)
From looking at the picture the animal appears to "fly" using its two HUGE fins (the fins are squid features). The mantle (head covering) is very narrow at the dorsal end (the end at the top of the picture Note to those who know what dorsal means: YES this IS the dorsal side of a squid...) while being fairly broad at the ventral side to accomodate (we presume) the mouth and organs.
The features of this animal are not at all un-squidlike, using occams razor and the BIOLOGICAL features of the animal (not just the way it looks to some shmo) its easy to hypothesize that this is a squid.
Take a look at the Pteropod Sea Angel (Clione) [jellieszone.com] and tell me its a snail. When you can do that successfully come back and comment on this animal. (Note to others: Clione is VERY VERY cool, take a look at the pics if this
Re:How sqidish (Score:1)
Aha... but one has been captured, or some some scientists think. According to the NPR report yesterday there is a small squid in a jar in (IIRC) the Smithsonian. The gent who wrote the article in Science this month is hypothesizing that it may be a juvenile of the same species as the large squid that has been captured on video.
Re:How sqidish (Score:1)
Remember how diverse cephalapods are. They include everything from garden slugs, to oysters, to giant squids.
Re:How sqidish (Score:2)
The fact that it was "looking at us" suggests that this animal has reasonably well developed eyes, which is definitely a characteristic absent in jellyfish. Certainly some jellies may have light sensing organs, particularly those that live at great depths. But not such that you'd call them eyes.
Of course the "looking" could have been a misinterpretation of the animal's behaviour.
New squid? (Score:1, Offtopic)
Deep Sea the second to last frontier... (Score:4, Informative)
The deep sea pages [whitman.edu] at Whitman College have some cool pictures of wierd deep sea creatures.
The Beastiary [pbs.org] at NOVA also has a decent rundown of whats down there.
Re:Deep Sea the second to last frontier... (Score:2, Informative)
??
I thought it was 70% water.
Bugger...that global warming effect really is playing havoc.
Re:Deep Sea the second to last frontier... (Score:2)
Re:Deep Sea the second to last frontier... (Score:1)
Re:Deep Sea the second to last frontier... (Score:2)
Lots of neat stuff in the shallows, too. (Score:3, Interesting)
My favorite is this one. [google.com]
Some 1600x1200 jpegs from the Monterey Aquarium, in Monterey, California. Enjoy!
Crystal Jelly [dragonswest.com]
Giant Sea Slug [dragonswest.com] with Giant Sea Cucumber back among the anemones
Anemone and Clownfish [dragonswest.com]
Link w/Video (Score:1, Informative)
Re:Link w/Video (Score:2, Funny)
Not a squid (Score:3, Redundant)
Here is my reasons
So judging from what I just said, it could be a Hydrozoa family jellyfish or considering the 'wings' a Ctenophora family jellyfish.
That's it. Maybe I'm wrong but those are the first thing that came to my mind when I saw the photo.
Disclaimerthe above is just an assumption based on high school zoology course I took about ten years ago and of course may be incorrect
Re:Not a squid (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Not a squid (Score:1)
lets see, which one has less evolving to do, a squid to a jelly ish or a jelly fish to a squid?
the Jelly fishes have it.
Re:Not a squid (Score:5, Funny)
Therefore I propose:
half squid + half jellyfish = Jellysquish
Re:Not a squid (Score:2)
Yeah, from the video alone, you could be right, but a quick look at one would probably scream chordate-- CNS, circulatory system, etc.
Once you've got that, a cephalopod starts looking like your only option.
C'mon. A Nautilus is pretty fsck'd up looking too--it looks like a bad guy from Metroid more than anything else.
Re:Not a squid (Score:1)
I will wait until they catch one and can do a full taxonomic study before I accept any statment on what it is.
Re:Not a squid (Score:4, Insightful)
As for "no eyes visible" and "transparent"...we've got one not-very-good photo; the scientists say they videotaped it for up to ten minutes. I think I'll go with their judgement. Besides which eyelessness is not unknown among deep-sea creatures either, like the hagfish. So, an eyeless, mostly symmetric squid that behaves like a jellyfish...it would be a weird squid, but it could still be one.
Re:Not a squid (Score:1)
1: If this is an ancient group, maybe the two longer arms on squid are a specialization.
2: Well, ordinary squid tentacles does get thinner toward the ends too.
3: Most jellyfish have several more than 10 tentacles. The two 'wings' looks like the same structure are the fins on squid and cuttlefish to me. There are other squid that have 10 equally long arms, the Belemnoidea.
Read more about Cephalopods at http://phylogeny.arizona.edu/tree/eukaryotes/anim
I am a biologist, but not a marine biologist. I do hope someone catches one of these creatures. Wonder what its closest relatives (among other Cephalopods)are...
Movie of it moving... (Score:5, Informative)
(requires realplayer)
Scary (was Re:Movie of it moving...) (Score:1, Funny)
Let's hunt them down and kill them...
First Contact (Score:2)
We live in interesting times. (Score:2)
new forms of squid.. Apropos, any news
from the boys at McMurdo Station?
Re:We live in interesting times. (Score:1)
Slashdot fthagn! Ia Slashdot! Ia! Ia!
News for nerds, squid that matter (Score:1, Offtopic)
Re:News for nerds, squid that matter (Score:1)
For the stuff that matters you need to go to squiddot.org
Pictures and video... (Score:5, Informative)
Couple of photos I haven't seen on other sites here - as well as a video of it swimming (in QT).
How long before.... (Score:3, Funny)
Doesn't this look like.. (Score:1)
If they have not cought it yet...... (Score:2)
it looks like a squid(sort of) but it acts like a jelly fish.......
what if it is a deep sea Jelly fish? jelly fish can grow to be 23 feet, perhaps this jelly fish developed a look like a squid because that shape is the best to have for such depths...I mean a normal Jelly fish would be crushed under the pressure so why not evelve a body structure like that.
and as for Giant squid, I am still waiting for a live adult to be cought, so far only dead ones have been washed up and the tails of british sailers from WWII is all we have as evidence that they do come to the surface
(in WWII british sailers had red Life vests, on one ship, after the germans sunk it, a good 10 or so sailers were taken by Giant squid right from the life boats!!)
Re:If they have not cought it yet...... (Score:5, Funny)
They telnetted into its port 3128.
Mmmmm... Sushi (Score:3, Funny)
So why are they still calling it a squid?
Re:Mmmmm... Sushi (Score:1)
Speak for yourselves scientists! (Score:2)
" Fishermen are scared out there. I don't think 'amused' is the word I'd choose to describe it! "
As would say President Whitmorre to Dr Okum.
Well an encounter with such a puppy at sea certainly would not amuse *me*
Nickelodeon... (Score:2, Insightful)
SpongeBob [spongebob.com]
Hmmmm. (Score:3, Funny)
Hold on... (Score:1)
First Contact (Score:2)
More Videos (Score:2, Informative)
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/294/
And here are more videos on Science's website.
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/294/
These are from Science's new Brevia section, which includes some quite interesting and readable articles.
http://www.sciencemag.org/content/current/#brev
Working URLs to Science (Score:1)
Article [sciencemag.org]
Videos [sciencemag.org]
Brevia [sciencemag.org]
You know what this means... (Score:3, Funny)
Re:You know what this means... (Score:2)
Argh... (Score:2)
Screw it, aye thinks it be time to go kill anoth'r World Cup Seeling Champeen.
Also in PopSci magazine (Superchoppers Issue) (Score:1)
I didn't check who wrote the article, but I think it's exactly the same in all three cases.
I thought it strange to read about a science discovery in Popular Science before the news media - usually magazines are the last place to see new discoveries because they're put together and sent to publishing so far in advance - usually a week to two weeks. Maybe these times have been improved from my days as a jogger* at a printer (printing Disney Catalogs, day in, day out), tho.
*jogger - the guy who pulls stacks of printed pages off a printer. On newer presses joggers just pull off and stack the printed magazines. Don't know if this term is universal or just used by the Quebecor (sp? I think they're extinct anyway, so who cares), whom I worked for about 12 years ago.
NPR has more video (Score:1)
Life imitates art (Score:1)
karma whoring (Score:1)
Re:karma whoring (Score:1)
In other gastropod news... (Score:5, Interesting)
It can bunch its arms into a flattened oval and develop brown patches to resemble a toxic flatfish, curl and hang its arms and turn light blue to resemble a local jellyfish, elongate and develop stripes to look like a sea snake. Absolutely mindblowing.
Unfortunately the pictures they selected to put on the web don't begin to do it justice.
Taking bets (Score:1)
Leviathan from The Illuminatus! (Score:1)
It's a new Chinease stealth submarine... (Score:1)
Dinner? (Score:1)
Creature from Abyss! (Score:1)
Compare to Taningia danae (Score:2)
You can see more comparisons at NASA [nasa.gov] of all places.
Squid size (Score:3, Interesting)
Our planet is neat. (Score:2, Funny)
Heck, I'm more interested in octopus/jellyfish/ray animals than duplicated sheep.
I'm still waiting for them to find a nessie
Gotta love that headline (Score:2, Funny)
"...so the lady squid says to her husband, 'Not tonight, dear, I have a haddock'..."
"Come on, people, I know you're out there, I can hear you swimming...."
Um... This isn't new... I fought it in FF7! (Score:2)
Does anyone know the name of it? It wasn't even underwater!
Or was it FF8? I can't keep them apart anymore...