[Featured]: Architeuthis (Giant Squid) Sightings

o.vulgaris said:
I suspect that the eyes on dead archi's are swelled up and inflamed,
note: the size of a archi that is alive.
Very peculiar, I wonder if this is the same archi:
squid_agent.jpg

Image from http://www.f2.dion.ne.jp/~nkd25/html/kraken.html

You guys are surprising me no end!!! That Architeuthis is actually the largest I've ever had, at ML 2.25 metres (when fresh). It is a specimen that I sent to the National Science Museum, Taichung, Taiwan, some 4 or 5 years ago now (one of the best trips I've ever had) - a specimen sent to a good friend, Prof Chung-Cheng Lu (you'll see him also on one of the docos).

I had only seen one other, poor-quality image of it. The museum itself is probably one of the best museums in the world - it rivals anything in the USA - truly sensational, and the people there were fantastic. It was during this trip that Lu showed me the only known specimen of a new deep-sea cirrate (a specimen of something we've since described as Luteuthis shuishi (the genus named after Lu)). I can't wait to go back!
Cheers
O
 
Phil said:
PLEASE CHECK THIS OUT:

I am not sure what form of squid is visible here drifting in the water but I think this will be of extreme interest:

http://homepage1.nifty.com/ozok/ika-story2.htm

I've just put the text above the photo of the squid being fed from the boat through Babelfish and this was the result:

"ƒ_ƒCƒIƒEƒCƒJ; Ghost squid of knowing deep sea. It is famous even with confrontation with the sperm whale. As for the mode of life it is not elucidated still excessively. As for this adult upper tier as for length to ahead the torso long 2m foot approximately the 6m as for those of the lower position when going around the torso long 2m you insert to the foot more largely than that excessively, it is thought as the thing which exceeds the 8m with presumption."

This would seem to indicate we could could be looking at a second photo of a live Architeuthis . I'm not sure, I think it could be Moroteuthis. Experts please help! What do you think?
 
Phil, all, the first image (in the tank) is definitely Architeuthis, but I don't think this is the same specimen that you saw in the earlier 'mega-squid' photographs (something Tsunemi Kubodera said last year ... I think that specimen has been on display for quite a few years; I don't recall the name of the museum in Japan that it is on display).

The second suite of images are rather interesting.
The first 2 images are of Thysanoteuthis rhombus

The next two, some ommastrephid (possibly Ommastrephes, but don't quote me!!!)

The next two, another ommastrephid (possibly Eucleoteuthis luminosa)

The next two, in the water, something weird but non-architeuthid (the head is far narrower than the mantle) - it is possibly a spent female Moroteuthis, but I'd like to have a closer look at it.

The next two images have me scratching my head; they're very interesting, and really Architeuthis cannot be discounted - but I'd like to see the specimen. How many rows of suckers can people see on the arms? Four?? Difficult - could be a mega-gonatid squid; it doesn't look like an onychoteuthid to me (as in not Moroteuthis robusta).

The final image is most likely that of Grimalditeuthis
 
Thankyou for the quick response, Steve.

Looks like two rows of suckers to me, though it is difficult to say for sure. Is that a keel visible on one the upper arms in the top photo again?

If anyone cannot download the images of the squid in question, please click below. Especially if you are good at image enhancement!

download.php
 
Steve O'Shea said:
...The eye is sitting within a socket in the head; note the anterior sinus .... they're not supposed to have this ... it's always lost in the frozen specimens (very onychoteuthid-like in appearance).
Steve,

What's an anterior sinus?

:roll:

Clem
 
Phil said:
Looks like two rows of suckers to me, though it is difficult to say for sure. Is that a keel visible on one the upper arms in the top photo again?

I see two rows of suckers on the arms. In the lower picture, The lower arm near the head is turned back, and seems to clearly show two rows of suckers turned up. This picture was tough to enhance, it was not of great resolution to start with. :wink:

It also appears, at least in the top picture, that the tentacles are cocked back along the length of the mantle. I don't know if this is significant. I don't see a keel, but I'm also not entirely sure what that is. If you mean a raised edge along the length of the arm, I don't see that.

What intrigues me is that it looks to me like this animal is going after something on a line that appears to be a dead squid of some sort. It looks like the dead squid(?) on the line has been torn in two, with the mantle and viscera still on the line, and the head and tentacles loose in the water. In the first picture, it looks like the large red animal has the head and arms of the dead animal in its own arms on the left, while in the second picture, it appears to have the arms and head more cradled in its arms. I could be completely off-base on this, though... it's hard to tell. It may just be water froth churned up that makes it look like the red animal's arms are around something else.

What is particularly interesting is the sharp difference in colour between the dorsal and ventral sides of the animal. The ventral side looks pale, while the dorsal side is vivid red. Could we be seeing some kind of environmental camoflage in action; light side toward the bottom to blend with the surface, red side toward the surface to blend with the dark depths?

I keep saying "the red animal" when I want to scream "ARCHITEUTHIS!!!". :heee: It sure looks like a giant squid to me! These pictures show what appears to be a large and robust animal, not a trick of the light making a much smaller squid appear to be big. The main clue to me is the swivel on that line; it looks like the kind of swivel used on deep-sea fishing gear to connect the leader to the line (the line is above the swivel leading offscreen; the leader has that tapered white egg shaped thing on it and runs into the "bait"). Perhaps this photo was taken by fishermen who snagged something with a trolling line they didn't expect? I'm trying to identify the gear on the line; if it's what I think it is, a floater meant to keep submerged bait from sinking too deep and a deep sea fishing swivel, that is one big G.D. squid.

I forgot to mention: those big swivels, at least ones I've seen and used, are usually about 2-4". So if you figure that swivel is 4" long... you do the math on the animal. :smile: But it's hard to say for sure, and almost impossible to identify fishing tackle from a picture like that. Could be 4", could be smaller. This page has some pictures of the tackle I'm talking about.

http://www.blueoceantackle.com/rigging_kits.htm

Scroll down to the "barrel snap swivel kit" and "ball bearing snap swivel kit", and compare those to what's visible in the first picture. Those swivels are each about 2-3" long IIRC.

(Edited for accuracy and to correct hyperbole from overenthusiasm and lack of sleep. :wink: After fact-checking with my salty ol' pop, those swivels are not as big as I remembered from when I was a lad. The biggest deep sea swivels can be as big as 5", but they would look very distinct. That one in the picture is probably no more than 3", maybe 4".)
 
That's interesting information about the swivel there, Bald Evil. That's useful as it is the only indicator of scale that we have for this new specimen. I think you are right about about the arms wrapped around the dead squid it is being fed on in the second photograph, I don't think that there is any other item in the water with it. I've attached a photo showing where I interpreted the animal having a keel on its third arm, the axis of orientation seems to indicate, to me anyway, that the arm is the same (the third arm) as the one in the Japanese photo above.

download.php
 
BIG SQUID !

I found an email address for some one in the local marine lab who might have more info. about your big squid . [email protected]

I do not know what questions to ask so I will leave it up to some one on this board to make an inquiry. I am living in Japan. If I can help in gathering information about this discovery let me know.
 
Phils,

Welcome to TONMO! You've picked an auspicious moment to introduce yourself to the forum. As you can see, we're scrambling for any bits of information pertaining to the "Kyoto incident" and the photographs taken of a living giant squid, Architeuthis. I think the information we're most interested in relates to the circumstances of the squid's capture and any notes taken about the behavior exhibited by the animal before it expired. If the lab you provided an address for can be of any assistance, we'd appreciate it many times over.

Above all, The man who could probably provide the answers is Dr. Tsunemi Kubodera, a teuthologist whose name can be found attached to numerous cephalopod-related papers, and the recipient of the Architeuthis brought ashore near Goshiki Beach, Amino-cho, Kyoto. Dr. Kubodera maintains a Japanese-language web-site with, among other things, an impressive online catalogue of squid beaks. I've done a blind crawl through the site and found an image of Doctor Kubodera alongside what might well be the Architeuthis pictured alive in the link at the top of the thread.

We could easily submit a laundry-list of questions for the man, but he may not be aware that news of a living Architeuthis has caught fire here at TONMO. (He may not be aware of TONMO, period.) Perhaps e-mailing Dr. Kubodera a link to this "Living Architeuthis" thread is in order, as a courtesy. Who knows? If he has any free time (and backlogs of work seem de rigeuer for teuthologists), perhaps he'll drop in one day.

:?:

Clem
 
Phil said:
PLEASE CHECK THIS OUT:

I am not sure what form of squid is visible here drifting in the water but I think this will be of extreme interest:
http://homepage1.nifty.com/ozok/ika-story2.htm

Phil,

Hmmm. The first thing that occurs to me is that we're looking at two different animals. (I'm referring to the "blue water" and "black water") photographs.) The day-time photograph shows what looks to me like an Ommastrephid squid going after a fish-head. I agree that there is a tentacular club visible next to the mantle, but the manus seems rather too broad and rhomboid in shape to be Architeuthid. The pale shape visible in the mass of tentacles on the left could be a large 3rd arm-keel extending from the midpoint to the distal portion of the arm. The fins appear to be frozen "mid-flap," suggesting that they are muscular enough to be used in propulsion or stabilization. Overall, I'd say the signs point to an Ommastrephid, possibly our old friend (enemy?) Dosidicus.

The "black water" photograph is harder to sort out, since the arms are surging and obscured by bubbles. Bald Evil's observation about the dorsal/ventral color divide is likely on-target, and the animal is probably countershading against the bright illumination emanating from the onboard lights.

Phil, what magic phrase did you use to find these photographs?

:heee:

Clem
 
It certainly seems more in character for dosidicus to be going after a baited line than for architeuthis. :/ And I am inclined to agree with Clem that the two photos are likely to be different animals; even if the darker shot was taken in the shadow of a vessel, it looks more like a picture taken at nighttime with a flash than during the day in a shadow.

So now I guess the question is: do the physical characteristics that are visible align more closely with dosidicus (or another animal) or architeuthis? That is for more skilled eyes than mine to determine. :wink: I can't find a good image of dosidicus to compare it to.

Edit: I dug around and found some illustrations and pictures of dosidicus; it really doesn't look much like the animal in the pictures. The fins of dosidicus seems very large and pronounced, the animal in the first picture seems to have much more narrow fins. Also, I don't think that what appears to be a rhomboid tentacle club on the left side of the animal is a tentacle club at all; it looks to me like churned water around the end of an arm, or possibly part of the bait in the water. The tentacle I referred to as cocked back by the mantle is on the right side of the animal, just behind the head, like a shadow under the water. To my eye, that appears to be longer and more slender than the shape on the left, and not moving (so perhaps its shape is more likely correct).

Of course, I want to be looking at an image of a living architeuthis badly enough that my next edit will probably include the discovery of a tattoo reading "Architeuthis sum" on the mantle just above the head. :madsci:
 

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