Giant Squid footage on History Channel

[DWhatley]

It is scary enough to think about what could happen with an upset stomach using a plain old regulator and a buddy breather at 30-60 feet (and enough to make my husband exit early and not do a second dive the last time we had the rare opportunity). After your exposure ;>) I was watching a film on divers in dry suits and thinking they would be toast it that happened but didn't even consider the problem with the rebreathers that you guys use!

 

[sayad]

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

nice


--
(edit: unrelated URL removed, since this looks like it might be driveby search engine optimization spam)

 

[monty]

to TONMO. I'm afraid I may have been a bit rude, but since you wrote a one-word first post and have an apparently-unrelated URL attached, you fit my profile of a certain type of spammerl so I removed it. If you're interested in participating in our forums in detail, you are of course welcome, but I'd prefer you not advertise unrelated sites until you've established that you really intend to participate.

thanks!

 

[Octavarium]

Awesome

 

[Tintenfisch]

Hmm, somehow I missed this completely the first time around. Think I was on a museum trip at the time.

I had a similar thought to Clem, wondering if the bright spot was a light organ, since it doesn't look like white tissue reflecting the light in the same way the oral faces of the arms do. At first I didn't see any tentacles, but watching a few more times, I think at one stage I can count 9 appendages, although the position of what could be a tentacle doesn't make sense to me, unless the other tentacle is missing. But the part of the arm-crown closest to the star indicating the eye's position in Clem's post above actually looks like an arm stump, so maybe there are 7 arms and two tentacles that I can't distinguish in the footage. If that's the case, though, the bright spot is also very strangely positioned to be associated with any arm-tip.

So, um, that's helpful.

 

[nanoteuthis]

So THIS is MonsterQuest Central!

OK, I was just directed to this thread after watching that Sea of Cortez MONSTERQUEST episode (yes, it has now officially aired in the USA) and trying to start a new thread with the following post:

Earlier this evening I watched an episode of MONSTERQUEST which featured an expedition to the Sea of Cortez to check out rumors of a "Giant Humboldt Squid" in its depths. Yes, I know that your garden-variety Dosidicus gigas is sometimes referred to as a "Giant Humboldt Squid", but that's not what they were looking for. Nor were they seeking an Archi or a Messie. The object of their search was an apocryphal member of the species Dosidicus gigas that had grown to gargantuan proportions.

Members of the expedition (whose names I don't recall, sorry) managed to capture a moderate-sized Humboldt and attach a "squidcam" to one of its fins, hoping that on a deep dive it would manage to catch a video of the mythic "Dosidicus humongous".

Well, for once, a MONSTERQUEST monster quest actually bore fruit.... and more than expected. When the beastie with the squidcam had reached the very end of the camera's tether, it (the squid) began to flash red-white-red-white, apparently signaling danger or distress. Then something unbelievable happened: A truly enormous squid approached the little guy, not attacking it but instead apparently reaching out and examining the camera attached to its fin.

Roger Hanlon was given the opportunity to view the resulting video, and while he couldn't identify the curious giant's species precisely, he said it was definitely "something very big".

The video was then shown to an expert in video forensics (again, sorry, I don't recall his name), and he did some calculations to extrapolate the mega-ceph's size from the apparent distance between its beak and its eye.

What he came up with was truly startling: He stated that if the critter was indeed a super-sized Dosidicus gigas, then the proportional measurements in the video would indicate a length of approximately 60 ft. But then it got even weirder: He went on to say that since the relative placement of eyes vs. beak in an Archi were different from that of a Humboldt, then if what they were looking at was an Archi its length would be about 108 ft. -- as long as a Blue Whale!!!

This really blew my mind. Anyone here familiar with that particular episode? If so, how accurate do those deductions sound? The video was amazing, and I would SO love to hear that there really is a 108 ft. Archi in the Sea of Cortez, but I know that such TV shows tend to sensationalize data, especially when it comes to "the largest", "the smallest", "the strangest", etc.

More information, please!

Your very impressed (or perhaps impressionable) benthic buddy,
Tani​

From skimming this older thread, I gather that the big guy was definitely not 108 ft. long; was not an overgrown Humboldt; and was not a Taningia (since the ostensible photophore did not appear to be on the end of an arm).... though I recall reading somewhere that my redoubtable namesakes may reach lengths far greater than the estimated average of 2 to 3 meters.

So, what is s/he anyway? Perhaps the 60 ft. estimate isn't that far off.... in which case, s/he would be longer than the recorded maximum for either an Archi or a Messie. Still bluidy impressive, IMHO!

In any event, now that I and my fellow Yanks have presumably seen the show, I'd love to revive this particular thread. Especially since -- despite the obvious sad associations with 11 September -- it is also quite happily the birthday of our own Doctor Dosidicus, the wonderful William Gilly, and therefore an auspicious day to start talkin' Humboldt once again.

William, and cheers to all,
The Tanster

 

[gonetobaja]

First of all Happy B-DAy to Mr. Gilly!

As far as the show, I saw it again the other day and we have been down to the area again. We did an expedition to film that big squid again and the show will air around the 8th of Oct. I will post up the link when I know for sure. We tried some new ideas that I have never tried as an underwater cameraman.

One thing I know for sure is that there is a type of squid down there that gets over 8ft on a regular basis. there is a spot that Scott and I know of where the fishermen wont even go fishing because the squid are so big that they cant bring them up. Its easier to fill the boat with smaller ones. The other major problem with trying to attach cameras is that the squid are stronger and more able to hurt you than you would think. One day I am sure that there will be footage of a massive animal out of the sea of cortez. It takes time and money.

And the willingness to take a shot or two....

Dale Pearson

 

[monty]

I'm looking forward to it... do I remember right that you added some laser rangefinding to your squidcam?

 

[FuriosoInferno]

This is what I've been looking for!! None of my friends/family have understood my obsession with these creatures, so it's wonderful to find such a spectacular community to participate in... especially with you all being so educated and experienced in the subject matter. I've been mostly keen on the Giant Squid, but they all fascinate me to no end! And off that note, I found this page after seeing an advert for the newest MonsterQuest which will air tomorrow; Giant Squid Ambush. I'm anxious to see what comes up and what the reaction here is, especially after seeing everything regarding the Humboldt episode. I'll leave it at that, so as not to steal SeaWolves' "Longest First Post" thunder...

 

[OB]

I trust you'll have a great time here!

 

[monty]

I'm watching the TiVo'ed version of the new MonsterQuest. So far, I like it a lot more than the other 2 involving Scott & Dale (it looks like Scott's only there in old footage this time?) although I'm 19 minutes in. They're using the 2-laser rangefinder approach for sizing... And getting a bit melodramatic about buoyancy compensators at the moment... but it looks like they're being a lot more serious about getting good data, and interviewing people about their skepticism without mashing up too much... Clyde Roper seems to be getting treated well without overzealous editing, and Dale is photogenic as usual.

Oooh, now they're interviewing Bill Kier! I've never seen him on TV before, but he's one of my favorite authors on squid physiology! Great Loligo pleii strike footage from his lab.

(more as I watch shortly)

 

[monty]

I like how the melodrama is largely plausible: how close are hospitals, sea lions can get territorial (not that I've ever been scared of sea lions, even without chainmail...)

They seem to be showing a lot more of the day-to-day ops and activity. Good stuff. They have squid now, and are preparing to attach the camera.

(aside: I need to get a dive fix... it's been too long... but I really need a refresher class)

d'oh. They love showing you when you're stressed out, Dale. Although the "the squid turned around and now I'm tangled up" is more of a good grace under pressure, even if you let out a little "oh sh*bleep*."

Te Papa squid footage... leaving us cliff-hanger on the camera and showing Te Papa footage...

D'oh. Engineering failure. Retrofit fix.

Hint from MBARI: you can fill cavities with fluid, and have a bellows that gives the fluid some room to compress. Mineral oil, maybe.

Feisty squid... "I won't wear your camera, but I'll eat it!"

I like the "realistic melodrama"-- "I almost dropped the washer. Oh, caught it."

Looks like it's hard to get back on the boat in that chainmail. Nice beak footage as it attacks the camera. Ok, more feisty squid footage, but it looks like the shoal moved on, so the tethered camera squid didn't see much. They seem to show the lasers scared the other squids off, some footage with no lasers. Weird that the lasers freak out squids more than the lights... I wonder if it's the long beam, the polarization, the monochromatic blue-green that looks similar in color to bioluminescence?

Looks like great footage for people who are satisfied with 6 foot squids. Dale, is there any chance to ask the History people to put a youtube or something of the whole hour of squidcam?

I give it a 2 tentacles up. It's on a few more times in October, set your DVRs:

Wednesday, October 22 08:00 PM

Thursday, October 23 12:00 AM

from

HISTORY

and congrats to Dale for a great show, and I hope they'll give you a chance to go again with a better pressure-tested camera rig (and maybe remote control for the laser switch?)

 

[gonetobaja]

Hey everyone!

Thanks for everyone who tuned in and watched the show. I was pretty happy with the end results. I like the ideas of the remote lasers. It was apparent when we had the lasers running that the squid wanted nothing to do with them. I am not sure but they avoided them like they were the kind of lasers that could cut them in half. I have heard that squid see in blue/green so maybe the green lasers were too much to handle for the sensitive eyes?

we are already planning another trip out. That trip was at a time of year when the squid are pretty small. It was hard to find the big ones. At least now we know that green lasers will scare them off.

I want to go down deeper on the next trip with rebreathers.

I think as time goes on we can use these trips to refine the techniqes and get more chances of some footage of the big one. I really feel that if the lasers werent on than we could get a better chance at the shot. Maybe if the lasers were red?

At least I didnt throw up on tis one

got beat up a little bit but I guess that goes with the job of underwater cameraman. Took a tentacle shot to my exposed earlobe and it wouldnt heal for two weeks. like there was some type of bactieria on it or something. It also took a couple of shots to my face from the tentacles around my chin/neck area, and now after it healed my beard wont grow there anymore, dont know why.

I would like to thank Zeagle for hooking us up with the special BCDs. Before we would wear a fall protection harness like you would use for a construction job then wear the BCD over it. With the new system its all in one piece and much more comfortable, no buckles and straps between your armor and BCD.

Everyone envolved wanted to make sure that the facts were realistic on this one and I was pretty happy with how it turned out....even though they put in some stupid comments I made while in the middle of squid wrestling.....(Did I really say "time to party.." Im such a dork.)

Was kind of a hard trip but I think we came away with more data to help us on the next one.

Although we only found 4+footers to put the cameras on, I am not sure if a 6 footer would be better. They are pretty strong in the water and not afraid to make you pay for a mistake. I can tell you for sure that an 8 ft humboldt would take you out no problem. It would be as big around as a 55gal drum. I am sure one day that if we keep putting those cameras down there that we will get some great footage.

Thanks again to everyone for watching the show!
Dale

 

[DWhatley]

Worked late but Neal DVRed it so we will watch tomorrow - thanks for the review and recap

 

[daviddickinson]

I watched this last night and whilst it was disappointing not to see any further footage of really big squid - it was a better documentary and the shots of the divers with the squid was fascinating - they are fiesty for sure! It was also interesting to hear that a dead giant squid was found of the coast of California....so they could be in the area I guess?

The only thing was they kept replaying the possible big squid footage over and over again which I guess was to compensate for the lack of new big squid footage.

Great to hear you are not giving up and have more expeditions planned - good luck Dale!