Architeuthis again (never a dull moment in New Zealand)

[Steve O'Shea]

Fancy meeting you in here Tani. I wasn't sure whether you'd cotton on so fast, but yes the dwelling on Taningia danae was just for you.

The funny thing about the photophores on this one was that instead of being the yellow with which I was familiar, they were very pale, quite washed out in appearance, but not at all damaged by the trawl.

The specimen was very small for the species - don't quote me on this, but the mantle was only ~ 0.5 metres. They grow an awful-lot larger than this (as you know). I think that there's a second species out there, either with a name (in synonymy of danae), or a new species. No matter where you turn in cephalopod systematics there are problems to resolve. We'll get to this one as soon as we can, but we actually need more material.

Pics to come ...... ; cheers
Me

 

[Clem]

My first impression of that engraving was its resemblance to the mega-Squid in LOTR. (And whassup with that proboscis between the feeding tentacles, which looks too long and weirdly shaped to be the funnel? Reminds me of the alien's extendable jaws in ALIEN.)

Taningia,

Here's what they said about the Dingle squid in 1673 Dublin:

A Wonderful Fish or Beast...which had two heads and Ten horns, and upon Eight of the said horns about 800 Buttons or the resemblance of little Coronets: and in each of them a set of Teeth; the said Body was bigger than a Horse and was 19 Foot Long Horns and all, the great Head thereof Carried only the ten Horns and two very large Eyes, And the little head thereof carried a wonderful strange mouth and two Tongues in it, which had natural power to draw itself out or into the Body as its own necessity required, there is several other very remarkable things to be observed in the said Monster, and in particular it had a Reddish Coloured wrapper or Mantle growing and Sticking fast to the back thereof, and the Laps on both sides were loose, which was white within and Red without.

The "proboscis" in the illustration with a secondary, rooster-like head is the buccal bulb, unnaturally distended, with spurious eyes drawn on. If it weren't described in the text, I'd have guessed that the secondary head and neck were the siphon and penis of a spawned-out giant squid; sometimes they're found with their unit hanging out of the funnel. The tentacles don't get much attention in either the text or the drawing, where they appear to be little longer than the arms and without suckers or other identifying features. It's possible that the tentacles were present only as truncated stumps, and the broadsheet's creators erred on the conservative side by rendering the "restored" appendages without features; maybe the tentacles really did look that way.

Per Steve's observation, the baggy mantle is more consistent with a big cranchiid than with Architeuthis, so maybe the Dingle squid really was something like Galituethis phyllura; if the mantle cavity really was white, that would seem to rule out Mesonychoteuthis, whose mantle walls are black (as reported by Dr. Steve, after examining the sub-mature Messie captured this past spring). If the tentacles were present, then the Dingle squid probably wasn't a large specimen of Taningia; adults have only the four arm-pairs, including the specialized photophore-bearing pair.

"Body bigger than a horse..."



Clem

 

[Jean]

Hey Steve & Kat,

Any comments from whoever owned the Triumph whose tyres got liberally squid slimed ?? I know I got some fairly strange looks/sniffs when I went back to the conference sessions! But really I hadta get in there! Waaaay cool! Course I'm sure it all palls after a while nah never happen we ceph people are an obsessive lot after all!

Still it was great to catch up!

Cheers

J

 

[Steve O'Shea]

.... I did a show for MTV yesterday at home. Had ~ 18 people turn up (never seen anything like this in my life), including medics and security. The neighbors were wondering what on earth all of the commotion was about.

Others online might know who the two lads (dressed in combat gear) were - one was called "Steve O" - he had a tattoo of himself on his back - they were right out there on a limb. To cut a long story short, the front of the house, garage and ALL of the road STINKS of squid this morning, so I am praying for rain! (I was out there until late scrubbing down) I have to laugh as this film crew all got in up to their elbows in squid (they had a ball) .... and each and every one of them will now stink of squid (one nearly threw up yesterday). Hope they're not hopping in any plane in the immediate future.

Glad you liked it. Am still trying to track down that camera that someone took pics on. As soon as I get it back (such is life) I'll post them online.

Nice talk you gave at the conference. I'm trying to set up a contract at this point in time looking at heavy metals in Nototodarus that will involve quite a bit of stomach content analysis. Interested?
Me

 

[Steve O'Shea]

BTW, another Architeuthis is on its way to us now .... looks like it is a bumper year for this animal in NZ waters (I think that this is # 5 for the winter). Let's hope that they're really common this summer (December down here on the right side of the world) so that we have a bumper number of larval Architeuthis out there for February

 

[Phil]

Looking forward to the photos. Sounds that you have been paid a visit by the ‘Jackass’ crew. That is a bizarre programme in which half a dozen men perform self-mutilating stunts in front of the camera. Most of these are too repulsive to enter into on this family site but one stunt that made me laugh in the Jackass film consisted of two of these insane people, can’t remember who exactly, jumping into the sea with their swimming trunks full of shrimp. A couple of local whale sharks then proceeded to take great interest in their nether regions……….

Oh goodness, I hope it wasn’t Architeuthis they smeared the house in….imagine the stench!

 

[Clem]

.... I did a show for MTV yesterday at home. Had ~ 18 people turn up (never seen anything like this in my life), including medics and security. The neighbors were wondering what on earth all of the commotion was about.

Others online might know who the two lads (dressed in combat gear) were - one was called "Steve O" - he had a tattoo of himself on his back - they were right out there on a limb.

Steve,

Phil is right, you've met at least one of the idiot savants in the "Jackass" crew. Congratulations. (Steve-O seems to have a genuine interest in marine biology: my brother met him years ago, near the Mote Marine Laboratory in Florida.) How on earth did he wind up at your house? Was it the affinity between your names that suggested an alliance? I hope there were no squid-related...insertions.



Clem

 

[Jean]

Glad you liked it. Am still trying to track down that camera that someone took pics on. As soon as I get it back (such is life) I'll post them online.

Claire Barnaby???????? Maybe, I could be wrong about the surname but she gave a presentation on the use of Mussel factory waste at the conf. She had a digital camera there. I have some shots but they're on one of those old fashioned 35mm jobs So I (& everyone else) will need to wait until they're developed (& THAT will need to wait until my bank account recovers from Auckland Prices.........how do you guys live up there???) Kerry may have taken some too but she doesn't get back here til the end of the week.

I'm trying to set up a contract at this point in time looking at heavy metals in Nototodarus that will involve quite a bit of stomach content analysis. Interested?

OF COURSE

J

 

[Steve O'Shea]

Ja, tiz a pricey 'hood to live in, but I'm a happy wee camper up here (beats being blown to bits in Wellington, or frozen to bits in Otago). I got quite a shock when we went out for dinner on a few of those evenings .....

I'm having a chat with someone tomorrow re this gut content work. Early days yet but we'll see what we can do.
Cheers
Me

 

[Jean]

(beats being blown to bits in Wellington, or frozen to bits in Otago). I got quite a shock when we went out for dinner on a few of those evenings .....

yeh, yeh, yeh....it may be cold down here but I have NEVER been so wet as I was last week! It says something about the climate of a place when EVERY store regardless of what it's supposed to sell, sells umbrellas

a cold but completely dry J!

 

[tonmo]

OMG, I can't believe you were visited by the "Jackass" crew, that is hysterical! Definitely you have to share pics...

Does this look familiar?

Steve-O | Actor, Writer, Producer

He's the world's "other" Steve-O... who graduated from Barnum & Bailey Clown College in 1997...

 

[Steve O'Shea]

..... yup, that's the lad .... sends a shudder up my spine recollecting the afternoon. It was an experience not-long forgotten (don't know when it will air but will let you know).

I must find out who the other lad was .... I'll shoot a message through, although they're in transit right now. Should know in a few days.
Cheers
O

 

[nanoteuthis]

No contest -- our Steve-O's cuter than their Steve-O.

8)

 

[Steve O'Shea]

.... I've had a really bad day ... week ... month. Still no contest? Time I went home and put feet up ... if only I didn't have to review this, that and the other.

... and no, that is not grey hair - it is an artefact of the lighting (along with the general unshaven face and red eyes); who knows when my nose got bent ... I don't ... perhaps it is from Tintenfisch's constant verbal hammering.

 

[Tentacular!]

And there we have it... Mr September for the Men of Tonmo calendar.