Giant squid on display at Melbourne Aquarium

[Phil]

Anyone fancy going?

A report and photos would be a lovely addition here...

 

[Feelers]

Im gonna be in Auz around the start of Feb - so I might be able to go.

 

[dub_doctor]

Anyone fancy going?

A report and photos would be a lovely addition here...

I live in Melbourne! We plan to go early next week, and I will post something on squidblog. For now I just have this information: http://www.squidblog.net/2005/12/20/melbourne-aquariums-giant-squid/ (and if you'd looked at squidblog you'd have seen this news 2 days ago).

For those of you who can't get to Melbourne you can look at a video report here: http://media.fairfax.com.au/?rid=17723&site=age

 

[Clem]

I live in Melbourne! We plan to go early next week

Hello Dub_Doctor,

$10 if you lick the ice-block.

Cheers,
Clem

 

[cthulhu77]

I wanna see pics of that. 10 bucks from me too !

 

[dub_doctor]

Hello Dub_Doctor,

$10 if you lick the ice-block.

Cheers,
Clem

Hell - I'd PAY $10 to get a chance to lick the ice block! Though I may consider that to be part of the $23 admission price.

 

[krin]

I'll be going along too as soon as I can but the $23 entry fee is a little steep! I can join for $47 and get unlimited entry so I mmight do that instead. Hopefully this means there will be lots of squid stuf in the gift shop. Hey Dub Doc, want to meet up and go "oh" and "ar" at the exhibit?

Cheers, KRin

 

[dub_doctor]

Hey Dub Doc, want to meet up and go "oh" and "ar" at the exhibit?

Cheers, KRin

Sounds like a good idea - we may even be able to get together for a "family" ticket. ('Cos all of us at TONMO are family, aren't we?).

 

[Clem]

$20 if you collect some ice shavings and make a sno-cone.

 

[chrono_war01]

another 20 from me if you mail me some of that ice.

 

[erich orser]

Yeah, I want some too. If I get this new job on the horizon, I'll send the $20.

 

[Phil]

That does seem to be somewhat expensive, but if it allows one access to the whole aquarium for the day, helps pay for the upkeep of the animals and allows one to see a stunningly presented giant squid I'd certainly say it was definitely worth it.

Look forward to reading your report Krin and Dub Doctor!

 

[cthulhu77]

we will need to see some photographic evidence!!!!

 

[dub_doctor]

$20 if you collect some ice shavings and make a sno-cone.

I'll try

But by all reports it won't taste too good:
http://pharyngula.org/index/weblog/comments/im_disappointed_with_this_bit_of_news/

 

[dub_doctor]

We finally made it to the Melbourne Aquarium today. Sadly it was not possible to lick the icy squid - it was carefully protected behind a thick sheet of glass. But we got close enought for Annalena to introduce her little friend to it.

I must say that apart from the frozen Architeuthis I was not all that impressed with the exhibition, or the aquarium more generally. Some of the fish and reptiles were cool, but it seemed sadly lacking in cephalopods - even the gift shop just had a few octopus souvenirs, and nothing at all celebrating the giant squid.

As for the Monsters of the Deep exhibition, apart from the frozen squid and a video of some Humboldt Squid, there wasn't much else. There was also a small display of Flashlight fish, Dumpling squid and a Sand Octopus, but there were way too many people trying to look at it, so I couldn't get very close. There was also very little information provided, so apart from a bit of a WOW factor it wouldn't be a terribly good educational experience to introduce someone to the wonders of cephalopods.