Giant Squid footage on History Channel

[BradB]

Some observations

I thought it was obvious they would have issues with scale of squids with the camera before seeing the end of this show. I cannot believe a team spending this much money didn't anticipate this problem. The obvious (but possibly expensive) solution would be to attach two cameras to the Trojan squid.

I think it is amazing that the first camera lowered for only a few hours saw a squid that almost any estimate puts at close to the largest verified squids. This is not a several month searching the depths for an elusive animal, we just dropped a camera, and it was right there. Imagine what could be found lowering large numbers of cameras capable of judging scale over several months in several different areas. Whatever this is, we likely will see more of it in our lifetimes.

I don't fault the history channel for false facts - anyone should be skeptical watching anything on TV, especially a series dedicated to cryptozology that offers convincing evidence on everything it investigates. I do think the "8 foot" squid being held by the diver clearly seen on camera was ridiculous and should not have been aired. Stay tuned to the follow-up of this episode: MosterQuest investigates sitings of a 15 foot tall scuba diver off the coast of California.

Still a cool episode, and I think we will live to see many exciting sea creatures in our lifetimes, including squid and octopus that dwarf anything we've seen.

 

[monty]

I thought it was obvious they would have issues with scale of squids with the camera before seeing the end of this show. I cannot believe a team spending this much money didn't anticipate this problem. The obvious (but possibly expensive) solution would be to attach two cameras to the Trojan squid.

I think it is amazing that the first camera lowered for only a few hours saw a squid that almost any estimate puts at close to the largest verified squids. This is not a several month searching the depths for an elusive animal, we just dropped a camera, and it was right there. Imagine what could be found lowering large numbers of cameras capable of judging scale over several months in several different areas. Whatever this is, we likely will see more of it in our lifetimes.

I don't fault the history channel for false facts - anyone should be skeptical watching anything on TV, especially a series dedicated to cryptozology that offers convincing evidence on everything it investigates. I do think the "8 foot" squid being held by the diver clearly seen on camera was ridiculous and should not have been aired. Stay tuned to the follow-up of this episode: MosterQuest investigates sitings of a 15 foot tall scuba diver off the coast of California.

Still a cool episode, and I think we will live to see many exciting sea creatures in our lifetimes, including squid and octopus that dwarf anything we've seen.

BradB. If you scroll back a bit, you'll see that Scott himself (SeaWolves) does address some of your issues, including the 8 foot concern.

It's still interesting that there's enough big squids down there that one showed up in a few minutes... as you point out, the chances of seeming a rare or unusual one in that short time are slim... whether it's an extra-large dosidicus or something else like architeuthis or moroteuthis, it's interesting that there seem to be larger animals that aren't caught much by the fishermen.

I'm still wondering if any of the giant-sized squids school, and cross-species schooling would be particularly unusual.

 

[Clem]

Hello BradB,



Points well taken, especially about how succesful this first-time effort was.

One thing that's tickled me is the fact that the camera squid wasn't preyed upon, by other Humboldts or the big fella. Did the bright light ward off predators? It might have, but Taningia actually attacked the light rig when it was filmed live. Or, did the attached light illuminate potential threats before they could attack, giving the camera squid time to spot them and take evasive action? It would be interesting to know if a squid that didn't have photophores could successfully adapt to suddenly having a spotlight.

Cheers,
Clem

 

[dusty59]

Dear Tonmo and All It's Members,

Last night History Channel premiered a show called: MonsterQuest... There are several errors in the documentary....

Hi Scott and Tonmo members! I Googled up info on said program & was lead to this thread- the video footage is great, but I was really sorry to learn of the- let us say- "mischaracterizations" by the producers. I do hold HC accountable for the factuality of its "documentaries."

As has been said, I appreciate your taking time to give the actualities what was seen (reality is such a cool & fascinating thing!) and look forward to seeing more.

steven rhodes

 

[monty]

Last night, I was walking around in the fog a bit with a laser pointer ('cause I happened to have it in my pocket) and was thinking about the way that seeing the beam in the fog gave some perspective help in seeing where things were. It occurred to me that a good addition to the "squidcam" that was used by Scott, Dale, & crew would be to put two laser (or 3 if you're a predator fan) pointing out straight from the camera in parallel. That way, they'd put 2 dots of known separation on anything directly in front of the camera, so they'd provide an exact scale reference. Also, beams going off at an angle might provide some 3-d position help. Using a blue or green laser diode would probably work best, since red is attenuated so much by water, particularly since it looked like it was a black-and-white low-light camera anyway so it wouldn't care about the color.

Of course, the squids might be weirded out by this, but they're also likely to be weirded out by a camera with bright lights, so I don't know that a laser light show would make things any more unnatural.

 

[OB]

If I am not mistaken, this is exactly what MBARI does on Tiburon?

 

[monty]

If I am not mistaken, this is exactly what MBARI does on Tiburon?

you are not, in fact, mistaken: http://www.hboi.edu/eng/division.html

I don't remember seeing that on the MBARI tour at TONMOCON, but we only saw Ventana (which may also have it, but maybe it was turned off and nobody mentioned it... or maybe I just forgot and it resurfaced in my brain pretending to be an original idea...)

 

[Steve O'Shea]

...It might have, but Taningia actually attacked the light rig when it was filmed live....

It didn't 'attack' it Clem, it tried to mate with it. More to follow.

 

[Clem]

Wow, really? Did it leave something behind, something more than a matchbook with a telephone number on it?

Edit: Okay, weird thought: is it possible that the unidentified squid in the video isn't extremely large and distant, and is in fact Taningia? Let me say up front that I don't know if there are records of T. danae from Baja, but Steve's comment and one of Monty's screen grabs has made me wonder about this.

The smear of light thought to be reflected from an eye (erroneously, I now think it's safe to say) appears approximately where that obscured arm ought to terminate distally, assuming the arm isn't bent back towards the tail. Could the light be an arm II photophore?

Clem

 

[OB]

Clem, let's not go there...

 

[Clem]

Well, I did say that it was a weird thought.

 

[OB]

weird, but most certainly not improbable...

 

[gonetobaja]

Hey guys, looks like the History Channel is getting rating on the show. They will be playing it again on Feb the 13th at 9:00pm

HISTORY

Another chance to watch the show in case you didnt get enough of the pukeing diver....

 

[DWhatley]

Dale,
Saw you on the Rouge Squid thing the other night (missed it first time around - writers' strike is not too bad for those of us who don't watch much TV) and thought it was pretty decent so you guys are getting some air time this month.

 

[gonetobaja]

Yea, I was surprised when I heard about it. I was in Mexico when they played the Rouge Nature show. That was a fun show to do. But its pretty easy to have fun when the guy you dive with (Scott Cassell) already has the entire diving with squid thing covered. It was him, by himself that started this diving with humboldt squid thing. I am just along to help out a friend. I have been lucky to be able to go on those dives and help out when the camera crews are there.

Im sure with the right funding there could be some major discoveries made. Its kind of a shame what happened with the History Channel show. I saw several things on the show that were odviously edited in to add drama.

Its funny to see yourself on TV. Its almost like seeing another person, I remember watching the History channel show and watching the diver barf and thinking to myself....."man that dudes messed up....."

Then my phone rings and there is one of my friends on the other line making barf noises. Then my kids chime in......"hahaha dad barfed!!"

guess it could have been worse and I could have barfed in my rebreather at depth.....

Anyways it looks like wit all of the showings that there must be ratings and advertisers wanting time in those slots. Well all we can hope for is for someone reading the internet to want to fund and produce another show on the Giant Squid. Im sure the one we filmed was not as big as they say, however it was 25ft + all day. With what Scott knows its only a matter of time before we see some real awesome stuff.

GTB