[News]: Very Large Colossal Squid Caught

[Cairnos]

I am just tired of constantly justifying the sort of research we do when there is no obvious actual or perceived immediate value.

I was talking to someone the other day and at one point they said "But why did they need to collect it at all?" and I had one of those moments when you realise that you're talking to someone who speaks the same language, was raised in the same society and yet has a thought process so alien to your own that true communication is virtually impossible.

 

[Steve O'Shea]

I get this sort of question all of the time - the 'why collect it at all' - and I haven't got an appropriate answer.

When I speak out about fisheries impacts (sorry, the 'effects of fishing') I get damned by the industry and some in the Ministry. When I don't speak out about these 'effects' I get damned by the public, accused of selling out by the conservation lobby.

The only peace I will ever find is when I walk away from cephalopods/the marine environment and go research moon rocks. Nobody seems to care if you collect a moon rock!

 

[WhiteKiboko]

The only peace I will ever find is when I walk away from cephalopods/the marine environment and go research moon rocks. Nobody seems to care if you collect a moon rock!

How dare you defile the garden of the Moon-Goddess! Get your grubby hands off those rocks! Moonrocks are people too!

 

[Clem]

Nobody seems to care if you collect a moon rock!

Moon-Men care.

 

[monty]

Moon-Men care.

Mooninite Random Quote Generator

Do I have to pay Boston a million dollars now?

This is perhaps getting a tad off-topic. And the moon may be OK, but people can get rather up in arms if you get involved in the politics of cephalopod rocks on Mars, apparently.

 

[Clem]

On-topic, sans Selenites (but with googly eyes), here's a living Teuthowenia at 880m, from Alvin. Beautiful animal, photographed near cold methane seeps west of Oregon.

PHY's VENTS & SEEPS Page

Edit:...another angle on the same squid was hiding in a corner Yancey's main Deep Sea page. Sorry for messy posting, it's time for bed.

 

[OB]

Actually, that mantleshape isn't at all that different from Meso, is it? Bar the fins, obviously. Based on the recent pictures and that of the trawled Russian specimen I still put my money on huge eyes peeking out through relatively tiny slits, however. Not sure whether they would be lidded, I'll do an artist's impression to post later on, to maybe explain a bit better what I mean...

 

[octobot]

New Zealand fishermen catch colossal squid
[SIZE=-1]Discovery Reports Canada, Canada - 19 hours ago[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]Fishing for Patagonian toothfish in the deep waters off Antarctica, the unsuspecting group caught the largest Colossal squid ever found. ...[/SIZE]


More...

New Zealand fishermen catch rare squid
[SIZE=-1]Jordan Falls News, IA - Feb 24, 2007[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]WELLINGTON, New Zealand - A fishing crew has caught a colossal squid that could weigh a half-ton and prove to be the biggest specimen ever landed, ...[/SIZE]


More...

New Zealand Fishermen Catch Rare Squid
[SIZE=-1]Wyoming News, WY - Feb 23, 2007[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]WELLINGTON, New Zealand - A fishing crew has caught a colossal squid that could weigh a half-ton and prove to be the biggest specimen ever landed, ...[/SIZE]


More...

Call me colossal
[SIZE=-1]Grist Magazine, WA - 17 hours ago[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]It took two hours to land what is presumably the largest and only mature male specimen of a colossal squid -- a rare find indeed. ...[/SIZE]


More...

 

[Clem]

Based on the recent pictures and that of the trawled Russian specimen I still put my money on huge eyes peeking out through relatively tiny slits, however. Not sure whether they would be lidded, I'll do an artist's impression to post later on, to maybe explain a bit better what I mean...

Loooking forward to it, ob. Re: the Russian specimen, I have some thoughts about that one, too...I think we're on the same page. Later today I'll post that pic in one of the older Meso threads. Here's a question about weight: is there a formula for determining the "wet" weight of a large, living squid, or any squid? Been thinking about how much of Meso's weight could be put behind that post holer-like beak.

To get a better sense of scale within the recent photos, does anyone know much about harpoons? The ones sticking through Meso's head? If we knew how long they were, or how long each section was, having that reference would be handy. (Or we paint double-decker bus profiles on the sides of all longliners.)*

Cheers,
Clem

*BBC linked to TONMO on their page. Woo!

 

[octobot]

New Zealand fishermen catch rare squid
[SIZE=-1]Olberlin, KS - 6 hours ago[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]WELLINGTON, New Zealand - A fishing crew has caught a colossal squid that could weigh a half-ton and prove to be the biggest specimen ever landed, ...[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]New Zealand fishermen catch colossal squid [SIZE=-1]Discovery Reports Canada[/SIZE][/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]95bFM: The Tuesday Wire with Richard Beniston [SIZE=-1]Scoop.co.nz (press release)[/SIZE][/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]all 3 news articles[/SIZE]

More...

Get out your gear, it's time to catch stripers
[SIZE=-1]Holmdel Independent, NJ - 8 hours ago[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]tractor-trailer tires, AP said, citing Steve O'Shea, a squid expert at the Auckland University of Technology. The animal would be 330 pounds heavier than ...[/SIZE]


More...

Discovery brings back memories of PI's 'Squidly'
[SIZE=-1]SalemNews.com, MA - 16 hours ago[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]PLUM ISLAND - Fishermen in the Antarctic waters south of New Zealand caught something unexpected last week when they hauled in a half-ton colossal squid ...[/SIZE]


More...

New Zealand fishermen catch rare squid
[SIZE=-1]Ely Times, NV - Feb 24, 2007[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]WELLINGTON, New Zealand - A fishing crew has caught a colossal squid that could weigh a half-ton and prove to be the biggest specimen ever landed, ...[/SIZE]


More...

 

[OB]

There are definitely gloved hands in the picture frames, and these gaffs are probably some sort of standard fishing equipment. My gut feeling tells me this is a ML that's still a significant bit short of 3 meters (10 ft), but I truly hope to be forced to settle a 3,40 m bar tab

 

[octobot]

Weekly News | Christian Views
[SIZE=-1]World Magazine - 5 hours ago[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]The largest documented colossal squid is finally out of the waters. Fishermen off the coast of New Zealand pulled in what most believe is the largest squid ...[/SIZE]


More...

New Zealand fishermen catch rare squid
[SIZE=-1]Olberlin, KS - Feb 27, 2007[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]WELLINGTON, New Zealand - A fishing crew has caught a colossal squid that could weigh a half-ton and prove to be the biggest specimen ever landed, ...[/SIZE]


More...

 

[OB]

How's this for size comparison: a larger uncropped version of the one already out there, showing most of one of the fishermen attending. It's from the nat geo website, big, but I do wonder whether it's really that much larger than the 2003 specimen...

 

[tonmo]

When did the School Bus replace the London double-decker? Someone Americanized the chart!!

 

[OB]

Shame on these Colonials! Anyway, I think these are the eyes, if I'm not mistaken; the head is distorted through gaffing, giving the somewhat peculiar impression of smallness.

OK, I just did these sketches during lunch break using MS paint and my mouse, so no comments on artistic qualities, please....