Architeuthis again (never a dull moment in New Zealand)

[Steve O'Shea]

Howdo Clem; the blue was very much an oceanic specimen. Interesting re the supposed depth/feeding range of the blue, because that is going to require us to re-evaluate what we know of the depth distribution of these large squid (either that or the blue shark feeds a lot deeper in these parts than is elsewhere recognised).

It is of course possible that the blue shark is scavenging dead squid from the surface - there's no way that I can prove this wasn't the case .... but of course I want to believe that it is mauling these monsters at great depth!

Nothing else was recovered from the stomach of the shark from which the Architeuthis remains were retained. From another blue we get the following .... another sensational find!! Taningia danae. Look at those hooks - this was a BIG squid!!! (you can separate Taningia hooks from those of Octopoteuthis , as Octopoteuthis has secondary barbs/cusps at the base of the hook). (ED, July 2007; I have since seen secondary barbs/cusps at the base of the hooks found at the base of the arms (proximal region) of Taningia, so the presence/absence of these barbs does not truly differentiate these two genera.)

Very bizarre! Another blue had ~ 30kg of purple-coloured flesh in its stomach; a subsample (retained) is also consistent with Taningia, so this is not an isolated thing!

Wow!

 

[Clem]

Steve,

Perhaps the Architeuthis and Taningia were bycatch tossed overboard (by someone without your business card), where they were snapped up by the Blues. I'm having a hard time imagining P. glauca tangling with a big, healthy Taningia; those hooks could put out an eye.

A South African web page mentions Architeuthis as prey for Blue sharks, but gives no details.

Clem

 

[Phil]

It is of course possible that the blue shark is scavenging dead squid from the surface - there's no way that I can prove this wasn't the case .... but of course I want to believe that it is mauling these monsters at great depth!

If you have access to the whole blue shark, would it be worth examining the skin for signs of damage that could have been inflicted by suckers? If the squid had been caught alive it may have thrashed around before being consumed.

Apologies if I am stating the obvious!

 

[Steve O'Shea]

I'm still buzzing at this end. I'm afraid the stomach contents were from a haul collected by the NZ Ministry of Fisheries Scientific Observer Programme (SOP), given to the Museum of New Zealand, Te Papa Tongarewa, then picked up by me last time in Wellington (several weeks back); so, unfortunately I don't have the whole sharks to examine. That last trip I drove back with stomach contents of 25 pygmy sperm whales (Kogia berviceps), quite a few new sensational squid from the NORFANZ expedition (NZ/Australia/France) [the Museum of New Zealand has that rather sensational web page dedicated to this trip], a few Architeuthis and all manner of other bits and pieces. It was a rather productive trip, albeit a very smelly drive back (and the truck stunk for 2 weeks!!!).

The MFish SOP collect all manner of samples, but I'm afraid I don't have pics of the whole blue sharks. This is a pity, because this was going through my mind yesterday when wondering whether the shark were eating the squid live or dead. Until yesterday I hadn't realised the importance of stomach content analysis of fish/shark species from this particular area to my research, although had tinkered away for years looking at stomach contents of anything that crossed my desk (particularly looking at stomachs of fish species from areas where Architeuthis was known to occur - looking for the juvenile Architeuthis more than anything).

I've two research proposals (Masters/PhD) for anyone wanting to reconstruct deep-sea food webs, looking at commercial and bycatch fish species age; size; sex; diet; bathymetric, geographic and temporal distribution; fishing effort and general habitat structure, if anyone iss interested. The problem is that I have no funds to undertake the research (as in full-fees and stipend scholarship).

Now that we know shark from this particular area (off northeastern New Zealand) are taking Architeuthis and Taningia (Architeuthis not previously known from the area, although one had washed ashore off northernmost New Zealand many years ago), we'll increase our effort in obtaining further samples from commercial and research fisheries in the area, and try and learn more about the temporal and bathymetric distribution of both predator and prey species. We'll also put the request out for photographs of the predator species from which these large cephalopods have been recovered, and hopefully get that tantalising shot of scratch marks around the jaws/over the head.

Cheers
O

 

[Steve O'Shea]

Just an update. Also from blue sharks in the region (amongst stomach contents) were ?Megalocranchia (see separate thread titled 'Mystery squid 3 (?Megalocranchia)'), Todarodes sp., Moroteuthis and another squid that has me beat! (pretty much beaks only).

The cephalopods in the diet of yellow fin tuna (other than fish) were mainly pelagic octopods (Argonauta nodosa, Tremoctopus sp. and Ocythoe tuberculata), and a few small squid (Onychoteuthis sp. and Octopoteuthis cf. sicula).

No more Architeuthis I am afraid .... but there's plenty left in that freezer yet.

The tuna are obviously feeding quite shallow (< 200m, but probably closer to the surface); the blue shark MUST be feeding very deep!! You just don't get mature to near-fully mature Architeuthis, Taningia and Megalocranchia, to the best of my knowledge, much shallower than 300 metres (this would be extremely shallow), and usually > 450 metres.

We'll just have to stick transmitters on these things (the sharks) and find out what they're doing.
O

 

[Steve O'Shea]

Here are a few pics of an Architeuthis we've just defrosted, in 6 weeks en route to Germany. We defrosted 2 specimens; one rather large, fully mature female (unfortunately this specimen lacked tentacles and had snapped in two pieces during capture), the second a fully mature (smaller) male.

They're making a wee documentary on the capture and preservation of this squid for German television - hence the camera you'll see in one of the shots. To date specimens have been sent to Paris, Taiwan, the United States and New Zealand, so getting one off to Germany is great.

The defrosting happened over the weekend, on the 5th floor of a 6-floor building (not the wisest place to defrost a squid, given all of the slime and running water that is required). We had to build a makeshift tomb to prevent splash and slosh. If anyone cares (nobody here does), I belted my finger with the hammer in the process.

(Ed. July 2007. Am trying to resurrect these and the following images that were lost in a site transfer several years ago; please persevere.)

 

[Steve O'Shea]

Here's a picture of the defrosting tomb (since dismantled), and Volker, a Tonmo lurker for ages (the recipient of the squid), in heaven.

 

[Steve O'Shea]

.... and of course, the ever-present cameras, and a bit of fixation (injecting the squid down with formalin solution).

The squid is presently in a big bin, full of brown-coloured formalin and slime. In ~ 6 weeks it should be ready for removal and 'posting' to Germany.

 

[tonmo]

Wow!! I'm certainly not one to know, but that looks to me like a good specimen! What were its dimensions, and how long was it frozen for?

Sorry to hear about your thumb, doc. We do care... in fact, as I recall, didn't you bash your thumb around this time last year?

 

[Jean]

Hope your finger is feeling better!

Posting an Archi ? Betcha that sets the sniffer dogs off !!!!


Kinda reminds me when I was coming back from Hobart, & had to go through the "something to declare" lane, told the customs guy I had squid beaks and pens...big mistake! Took them 3/4 of an hour to figure out that it wasn't on their list of banned stuff (or their list of OK stuff for that matter) and to let me through cos the squid came from NZ & a) I wasn't likely to smoke it and b) they weren't very likely to chase sheep around anyway!


J

 

[Steve O'Shea]

Seems like I have another 2 Architeuthis (en route), bringing to 3 the number caught this spawning season.

Will examine these brutes in ~ 4 weeks, so should be able to post something online soon. Just have to find a slot where I can work solid for 2 weeks, without interuption ... not an easy thing to do.

 

[Infusoria]

Here are some pictures of the Giant squid - taken yesterday and today.


This is how giant squid number 1 arrived ("She's dead, wrapped in plastic"). ...It's a line from Twin Peaks.

From left to right: Steve, Felipe, Jason.

Laid out on display, apologies to Steve for photographing the less photogenic side of his table. Good table though, had to support in excess of 240Kg. Notice the trail where we dragged it in, I so reeked of squid yesterday.

 

[Infusoria]

Some more from today - that's Kat on the left

 

[Infusoria]

and a couple more - apologies for making this page so big...

:P

 

[CarlS]

8) 8)

Thanks for posting these Matt, I'm looking forward to seeing any and all images you're able to put up here.

--Carl - getting ready to take more notes for the model