A few questions on giant squids

[Steve O'Shea]

Also their skin is delicate and a struggling animal is likely to injure itself easily, capture damage can very often be fatal which kinda spoils the research AND gets the ethics committee rather riled up!!!

.... yet we can stick a trawl through them and wipe out thousands! Rather bizarre situation really.

 

[Tintenfisch]

Regarding the oesophagus, yes, the problem would be getting a tag through it intact - it is quite a small tube (relatively speaking - for Meso and Archi, about the size of your thumb). But on the other hand, it must be pretty stretchy, since we have found bits of things in the stomach (caecum) that look like they shouldn't have fit through. For example, yesterday I found a little M. ingens (about 12cm total length) where fully 1/3 of its weight was comprised of gut contents, which proved to be the remains of another squid of the same size! ... Chopped into bite-size pieces, of course, but what was interesting was that large pieces of the victim's arms were still hanging together by membranes; imaging swallowing a series of large meatballs (whole) strung together by strands of spaghetti. Very strange. And man, are they mean little beasties.

 

[Jean]

.... yet we can stick a trawl through them and wipe out thousands! Rather bizarre situation really.

Totally. BUT as far as I know the fishing industry hasn't got an ethics committee

J

 

[Euprymna]

imaging swallowing a series of large meatballs (whole) strung together by strands of spaghetti.

Very Nice analogy !!
How do they do it? With the help of the radula?

eups