[News]: Very Large Colossal Squid Caught

[OB]

Just to let you know that one of the interactives we developed for the colossal squid exhibition at Te Papa (which are also available online through our website) includes some footage of the colossal squid capture

http://squid.tepapa.govt.nz/the-squid-files/interactive


Cheers
Pamela

Thanks Pamela!

 

[DWhatley]

Proffssor Dan-Eric Nilsson reports theory on Colossal Eye

Following up on the thawed colossal our Octobot picked up a story that reported back an interesting theory on the size of the squid's eyes:

Most specimens recovered are decaying corpses with their water-filled eyes collapsed like deflated balloons, making them difficult to study.

A recent break came in February 2007 when New Zealand fishermen captured and froze a colossal squid. The eyes, thawed in 2008, offered Nilsson and others an unprecedented look at their anatomy.

With accurate measurements in hand, Nilsson and four other researchers set out to model what the giant squids might see. They learned that while the eyes offer little if any gains to close-up vision, the large pupil and huge retina provide an advantage unmatched by any other eye: a light-collection device big enough to detect faint bioluminescence from 400 feet away.