Rex/Dux?

[Octomatt]

Hi all...

I've got a question that been bugging me for years and this might be just the forum to finally get it answered!

Somewhere I once heard of an Archeteuthis species called Archeteuthis Rex. Is there actually such a creature? I was under the impression that this was the scientific term for teh Giant Squid, however, I've also heard it referred to as Archeteithis Dux. Is there a difference, and if so, what is it?

Thanks for reading and replying!

Matt

 

[tonmo]

Hi Matt,

Welcome to TONMO.com!

Hmm... I'm by no means the last authority on this subject (or the first, or in the middle, in fact), but to me Architeuthis Rex sounds like a name for a fanciful morphed beast, combining Architeuthis Dux and Tyrannosaurus Rex. I like the imagery... but wasn't able to find anything substantial written about such an idea when I did some quick looking... :?

Side note, when I did a search on Google for Tyrannosaurus Rex, I got 66,600 results. *shudder*

 

[Octomatt]

Thanks for checking, Tony! And thanks for the response. This one has been bugging me for years! I'm not sure where I first heard REX used, but it seems indeed to be bogus. I couldn't find anything on it either.

Thanks again!

Matt

 

[Steve O'Shea]

Hmm... I'm by no means the last authority on this subject (or the first, or in the middle, in fact), but to me Architeuthis Rex sounds like a name for a fanciful morphed beast, combining Architeuthis Dux and Tyrannosaurus Rex.

Tony, spot on - there's no such animal (squid) as Architeuthis rex (just A. dux, the duke).
O

 

[Octomatt]

Wow. Still in amazement that THE Steve O'Shea responded to my post.

Gotta wonder though...a cross between the giant squid and the Tyranusaurus. Sounds fun to me!

Matt

 

[Octomatt]

Oh, and thanks for not pointing out my spelling atrocities...

arch I teuthis. :P

 

[Tintenfisch]

Minnesota's SECOND Ceph-Nerd

8)

 

[GeoffC]

Wow!

OK dudes what an idea! A cross between a T.rex and a A.dux What in the wide world that would be like I do not know but the idea...!!! Cool!

I've been away for a few weeks, I come back and suddenly there's double the members and a huge (one might almost say collosal) squid story - wow guys its AWE-SOME and then SOME!!

PS I heard about it on Yahoo and their news guy must have read the NZ papers - it had the bit about dinner plate sized eyes and swivelling hooks but they seemed to keep a sense of proportion they restricted themselves to saying if you fell into the water with it 'you'd be in trouble' rather than 'if you live less than 50 storeys above ground you're dead meat'

Thanks a bundle for the news Steve, d'ya think Mesonychoteuthis rather than Architeuthis is the origin of the old mariners tales? Or is it a case of Grogiteuthis brandiensis?

Cheers - Geoff

 

[WhiteKiboko]

Or is it a case of Grogiteuthis brandiensis?

Cheers - Geoff

Wow! i didnt know cephs and their fans were susceptable to the cocktail flu.... how foolish could i have been? everyone knows the legend of the silly octopi...

 

[tomossan]

im not sure, but i think that if the collosal squid ( RAR) had been responsile for the early tales their hooks (bladey things) would have featured heavily in reports, instead of just tentacle yarns....

do you see where im coming from? i woudl think it would be a major part of reports, and i read somewhere else on Tonmo that ranged deeper than archi... maybe they dont coem to the surface as often (and even with an Archi its rare)

i dont know, i am by NO means an expert, but reading that set me thinking

RARARRARAR

 

[GeoffC]

Yep thats a fair point, I was running with the idea that old sea farers reports featured a large aggressive ceph, and here is one. But I guess if you live in low light conditions at depth then maybe you have to be well armed (no pun intended) and aggressive in order to get any prey item.

RARARRARAR

indeed!


PS WhiteKiboko wrote

Wow! i didnt know cephs and their fans were susceptable to the cocktail flu....

+ =

 

[tomossan]

indeed you woudl have to be well armed; the immensity of the southern ocean is an incredibly hostile enviornment; with freezing water, and gigantic, well armed predators, i woudl think the meso's size and strength would be a necessity rather than an exception, if you see where oim coming from; once a creature became over a certain size, (perhaps 2 meters (?) ) they would become such a potential prey source that a larger size would be required in order to defend;

perhaps, and this is really just flowing ideas, toothed whale and or saurian (early) agression was what prompted such an extreme enlargement in size. If, for instance, an early form of sperm whale often dived for squid, as a defence the squid would grow; forming, say, the architeuthis.... however their extra size in turn simply made it quicker and easier for the sperm whale to dive deep and eat a large meal... as such it dived more frequently, knowing (genetically) a huge, and more importantly singular (no hunting around!) food source wwas readily available....

However, as the size did not always deflect the attention of the sperm whales, and in fact caused a greater dependance on them as a food source, the architeuthis has in part evolved into the meso, with an even larger size, and added defences....

NOw this has been simply me wondering aloud, and id love some feedback; however note that the sperm whale thoughts could easily be interchanged with a species of marine dinosaur; i have no idea when architeuthis evolved, and i doubt there would be substantial fossil evidence of them, as fosilisation was a precarious enough process, without having to occur at thousands of feet under the sea! (also, even if it did occur, we would have no chance in hell of finding these fosssils )

ok, ramble over.... and this is porbably going to be shot down immediately by one of the vastly knowledgable experts i know frequent these boards.... but i hope its food for thought

 

[ubiquity]

i for one would love to see what someone with a touch more experience than myself would have to say about the points just brought up.

 

[Phil]

NOw this has been simply me wondering aloud, and id love some feedback; however note that the sperm whale thoughts could easily be interchanged with a species of marine dinosaur; i have no idea when architeuthis evolved, and i doubt there would be substantial fossil evidence of them, as fosilisation was a precarious enough process, without having to occur at thousands of feet under the sea! (also, even if it did occur, we would have no chance in hell of finding these fosssils )

I would not be so sure! Have a look at this, details of an 80million year old giant squid:

http://www.canadianrockhound.com/2001/01/cr0105108_squid.html

This link has been posted here before but it was many months ago and you probably would not find it without trawling through the old message boards for hours.

Interesting speculation about the size of these enormous squids being a response to predation. I wonder if fragments of these ancient squid will ever be found fossilised inside mosasaur stomach? I know the chances are a million to one, he said, but still..........

 

[ubiquity]

hey that's great!
any info on relations between prehistoric cephs and prehistoric whales?