[Article]: Architeuthis Cannibalism

[tonmo]

[URL2="http://www.tonmo.com/science/public/cannibalism.php"]Gut contents of a giant squid Architeuthis dux (Cephalopoda: Oegopsida) from New Zealand waters[/URL2]

I'm pleased to announce the article above as a new addition to our Cephalopod Science category.

THANKS to Kat and Dr. Steve for yet another invaluable contribution to the TONMO.com community.

 

[tonmo]

ahem... I said, "THANKS Kat and Dr. Steve!"

Let's show some appreciation here, folks! This is an article on giant squid cannibalism! If this isn't up our alley, what is?

 

[Phil]

Absolutely. It was fascinating reading.

Thanks to Steve and Kat for allowing this to be published here.

 

[OB]

Sorry about the absence of great cheers of enthusiasm, I may have been so awestruck I simply forgot to type

THANK YOU KAT AND STEVE!

And Cat Stevens

And Neil

I learn something new every day!

"Thus, it appears that Architeuthis probably preys on the same food items as hoki (small fish, prawns and squid), instead of on the hoki itself"

Probably as informative:

The more unusual items that have been reported from the stomachs of Architeuthis include pebbles (Ré et al. 1998), the alga Fucus sp. (Kjennerud 1958), unidentified algae (Nordgård 1928; Aldrich 1991), and cestodes (Pippy & Aldrich 1969).

See attached picture of a Histioteuthis hoylei, maybe Arthur C. Clarke was right once more, when in 1957 he claimed Architeuthis crawled accross the ocean bed in "the deep range"...

 

[Steve O'Shea]

No worries; I'm not sure what Histioteuthis does as an adult, whether it is closely associated with the sea bed (as in this picture) or not. It's one of those mysteries (we've thought about this for a long time, so Ob, your post was rather interesting). The abundance of Histioteuthis beaks in the stomach contents of sperm whales could lead you to believe that these squid were super abundant, perhaps even shoaling down there, but all of the pics that I have seen of Histioteuthis are of single animals like this one. It's bizarre.

This year will be interesting, as there are many manuscripts about to be submitted for publication, so we should have some more up-to-date stuff online in ~ 6 months.

 

[Architeuthoceras]

Thanks Kat & Steve

What would we do without you

i could sware this article was posted before
it is winter, maybe i'm just semi-hibernating

 

[Infusoria]

I'm not sure what Histioteuthis does as an adult

I do, it gets eaten. The end.

 

[tonmo]

You know Kevin, this was given to me back in 2003. I happened upon it when checking email archives a few months back. When I looked online for the article, I couldn't find it! So I formatted it and got it online... but for months I have been confounded by the idea that I had this article but never posted it... so maybe I did? But where'd it go??

 

[chrono_war01]

Great article, a great THANK YOU to Kat and Steve.

Tony, as a web-surfer and past web site owner, there has been cases of articles or other things being uploaded not appearing or the site not updated. So it might be that it's "One of those cases" or you might have forgotten to upload it.
Hope this helps.

 

[infernauta]

THANK YOU!

 

[Swarvegorilla]

Yep cheers for a good read Kat and Steve.
OB cheers for the new desktop background, very pretty.

 

[Barbriat]

Interesting article on this strange animal. Why the pebbles? Chickens require grit for digestion. I wonder if this is similar, or were the pebbles significant enough to act as ballast?

 

[bigGdelta]

I think the pebbles were eaten when the animals were close to shore.