Another weird squid!!

[Steve O'Shea]

http://www.georevista.es/geo/home.jsp?idapr=1_402_esp_1__

Anyone want to have a go translating the page?

The tentacle length is insonsistent with that of Architeuthis, but the body and fins don't look quite right for an ommastrephid (Humboldt), unless it is sick. It's certainly no Moroteuthis! It has me scratching my head a little. The swimming keels are consistent with an ommastrephid.

With the squid in the foreground the scales are thrown out some; it is highly unlikely that this is a monster.

 

[tonmo]

Automated translation:

Unpublished picture of a monster
Thanks to a stroke of luck, the giant calamary, inhabitant of the oceanic abysses, have been photographed for the first time in their habitat.

The Architeuthis was surprised in the Red Sea. The giant calamary, known scientifically like Architeuthis, is lost part of its mystery: the biologist and French submariner Laurent Crossbow have managed to photograph it alive and in his habitat. Until now, nobody had obtained similar schematic, since the monumental invertebrate frequents the submarine abysses. The snapshot was fruit of the chance: while Crossbow dived by waters of the gulf of Aqaba (the Red Sea), to about 90 meters of depth in a zone where a grave of more is opened than 500 meters, saw a vertical shade suddenly, raising and approaching slowly a colleague. It had the right time to take the image him that we published in these pages, since after the lightning of the flash, it disappeared in the depths.

Until that moment, the extraordinary calamary, of about three meters in length, did not demonstrate any aggressiveness, although it had the opportunity to defend with its eight tentacles and the powerful tip of its mouth. One of the most important populations of Architeuthis is in the Asturian coast, where it has appeared the greater number of varamientos of this aloof animal.

More information
Exhibition giant Calamaries, of the Nautilus to the Kraken Project National Museum of Natural Sciences (Madrid). www.proyectokraken.com Information of the Architeuthis and a project of shooting in Asturias.

 

[Clem]

Hello Steve,

My Spanish is a mite rusty, but I'll give it a go:

Gracias a un golpe de suerte, el calamar gigante, habitante de los abismos oceánicos, ha sido fotografiado por primera vez en su hábitat.

"Thanks to a stroke of luck, the giant squid, inhabitant of the oceanic abyss, has been photographed for the first time in its habitat."

El calamar gigante, conocido científicamente como Architeuthis, ha perdido parte de su misterio: el biólogo y submarinista francés Laurent Ballesta ha logrado fotografiarlo vivo y en su hábitat. Hasta ahora, nadie había obtenido semejante documento gráfico, ya que el monumental invertebrado frecuenta los abismos submarinos. La instantánea fue fruto de la casualidad: mientras Ballesta buceaba por las aguas del golfo de Aqaba (mar Rojo), a unos 90 metros de profundidad en una zona donde se abre una fosa de más de 500 metros, vio de pronto una sombra vertical, subiendo y acercándose lentamente a un colega. Tuvo el tiempo justo de tomarle la imagen que publicamos en estas páginas, ya que tras el relámpago del flash, desapareció en las profundidades.

"The giant squid, known by its scientific name as Architeuthis, has shed some of its mystery: French biologist and diver Laurent Ballesta has taken photographs of it alive and in its natural habitat. Until now, no-one has ever obtained graphic, documenary proof, since the huge invertebrate frequents the deep abyss. This instance was the fruit of chance: Ballestra was diving the waters of the Gulf of Aqaba, in the Red Sea, at a depth of 90 meters in waters more than 500 meters deep, making a rapid vertical descent, as the squid rose vertically and looked him and his colleague right in the eye. (I think that's close-C) They had just enough time to take the picture published here, and then it was gone in a flash, vanished into the depths."

Hasta ese momento, el descomunal calamar, de unos tres metros de longitud, no demostró ninguna agresividad, aunque tuvo la oportunidad de defenderse con sus ocho tentáculos y el poderoso pico de su boca. Una de las poblaciones más importantes de Architeuthis se encuentra en la costa asturiana, donde ha aparecido el mayor número de varamientos de este esquivo animal.

Before that moment, this solitary animal, one three meters in length, had showed no aggressivenesss, although it had the means to defend itself with its eight tentacles and the use of its beak. One of the locales where Architeuthis is most often ecountered is the Asturian coast, where there have been a large number of recorded finds of this animal."

Uhhh...what? That doesn't really look like Archie, but it definitely is weird and big looking.

Cheers,
Clem

 

[Steve O'Shea]

Uhhh...what? That doesn't really look like Archie, but it definitely is weird and big looking.

... I hate to say this, but it's got a very dead look to it; if it is not dead then it looks VERY sick. I wonder if this is a *hoax*/plant ... dead squid drifting through water column, snapped by eager photogs .....

 

[WhiteKiboko]

i'm sorry guys.... i dont buy the illusion of size..... strikes me as simply in between the camera and diver but closer to the camera....

 

[Steve O'Shea]

I put money on it that it is a dead squid; live squid just don't look like this!! You are right WK.

 

[Clem]

WK and Steve,

I agree, it looks to be very sick at the least. Looks like I mistranslated the section describing the photographic flash disturbing the squid. Assuming, for the moment, that it really did disappear when strobed, you'd expect the iris to have contracted at the moment the light went off. This critter's pupil looks fixed and dilated. The tail also looks split.

Cheers,
Clem

 

[Jean]

Hmmmmmm someone trying to cash in on the recent news from Japan?? The whole thing looks dead to me.........that eye looks sunken and rather odd.

J

 

[Clem]

Hello Jean,

The Geo article is dated April, 2004, No. 207, so I don't think it's a post-Kubodera attempt to cash in, although Mr. Ballestra may attempt to do so by drawing attention to it.

Steve, how'd you find this weird thing?

Clem

 

[Jean]

OK .........Shoulda read the article! still looks dead to me though!

J

 

[Steve O'Shea]

Clem, the inbox is full of messages from everywhere, drawing my attention to this, that and the other. I've even had a few messages from actual squid .... not too happy about this invasion of privacy. People do like squid, that's for sure! Comforting to know.

I keep forgetting that this is an octopus site ... we do need a colossal octopus don't wee. Phil, what can you dig up on photoshop?

 

[Clem]

Oh, yes, Jean, dead as a doornail. Funny too that the Geo article counted eight "tentacles." That's a pretty common eror of nomenclature, but the thing does appear to have only eight (or less) arms, and no obvious tentacles.

So: dead, split tail, no tentacles, and signs of abrasion of the mantle and tail. Run over by a whale, or regurgitated? Trawled? Or just spawned out?

Clem

 

[Steve O'Shea]

.... or brought there by the photogs, dropped a 100 times until they got the desired image ....

This one gets the if that's what's happened. Have we our first ceph hoax? Plenty in fossils.

 

[tonmo]

I'm sorry, is it just me or does this completely look like an illustration, not a photo? Was thinking I was missing something with this thread... that doesn't look like a photo to me.

 

[tonmo]

I've attached the pic blown up 500%. Illustration?