Squid beaks from whale stomachs

Steve O'Shea

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Hi all. Tintenfisch and I have just returned from a talk we gave on giant squid, giant octopus and other mysterious denizens of the deep, up country a bit. Whilst at the venue someone from the NZ Department of Conservation gave us a chilli bin of squid beaks (at least a thousand beaks) recently extracted (during autopsy) from the stomach of a stranded sperm whale (of length 13m, or ~ 40 feet). Therein were several (2 at least) giant squid beaks, and at least 4 (we haven't really looked at them in detail yet to give precise counts, and they still smell seriously evil and are covered in parasitic worms) of those belonging to Mesonychoteuthis hamiltoni. Those of Mesonychoteuthis just leave those of Architeuthis for dead in the seriously evil stakes - they're considerably larger and CONSIDERABLY THICKER - almost capable of doing the 'cutting through cable' trick that you'll sometimes read about (with respect to Architeuthis).

In the months to come we'll try and describe a few of these beaks online for you (as a small project), as we try and reconstruct what species this whale had been eating, and where it had been eating them; it is really quite interesting stuff!! We also have the stomach contents of three pygmy sperm whales (Kogia) to examine, so the comparison might be of interest to people here.

Mesonychoteuthis is an Antarctic squid species (none is known from New Zealand waters, or at least none is represented in collections from NZ waters), so the sperm whale, stranding in subtropical waters, was likely feeding quite a bit south of New Zealand. I don't know the cause of death of the sperm whale, whether sick or disoriented, but will let you know as soon we find out.
Steve & Tintenfisch
 
Actually it's the punchline of a joke and is supposed to be the equivalent of 'the finger' in Gorilla.
But as this is a family forum... we'll just say Steve-O was displaying his red-rimmed insomniac eyeballs to the world.
:bugout:
 
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Doubling up on another post, but doing so because the whale in question is the specimen from which we'll 'soon' report the beaks.

We've just received notice that another sperm whale has stranded, and that samples will be on their way. Never a dull moment in New Zealand (anyone want to come and study here).

Of particular note on the attached 3 images (with permission to use granted to us by Debbie Freeman of the NZ Department of Conservation) is the extent of scar tissue on the animal's head. Because of the regularity of spacing and linear nature of many of the scars it has been suggested that they are the result of inter-male aggression (that the scars are caused by the aggressors teeth); however, not all of those scars are that regular. Is it possible that the talon-like hooks on the Mesonychoteuthis arms and tentacle clubs are responsible for making these scars? There are a few Architeuthis scars there too (the round ones), and this animal had certainly eaten two Architeuthis quite recently.

Will keep you posted on developments
Us

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Yeah, those look like some serious battle scars. I can definitely see the sucker scars as well. In Whale 2 there are four parallel scars that almost make a "J"... the first three are almost evenly-spaced, but the fourth is a bit stray. Do they seem too apart for teeth marks?
 
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:shock: :shock: :shock: "LOOK INTO MY EYE"!!! If it was me it would be because i needed a serious visine treatment.
It is so nice to see you two having fun with your job...even among all of the stench!!! :meso: :bonk:
 
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:cyclops:

No, you posted it to the right place! Steve's eye picture is on page three of this thread -- all new notes get added to the bottom of the note thread. So the site is drug-free!

...as is its Webmaster... :rainbow:
 
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well atleast they have a variety of squid to dine on, thats encouraging....it seems Tani was playing Jonah..... better luck next time...

stick and move, stick and move


:cthulhu: :heart: :beer:
 
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Indeed, watch this space in days to come; it is time to resurrect this popular old thread.

We'll process ~ 25 whale stomachs this coming week. It will take some planning and a few months, but eventually we will come up with a TONMO exclusive - our very own key to identifying cephalopods, both squid and octopus, using beak morphology - an online article to assist people with identifications based on partial remains.
 
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We've been at a whale stranding all day - 13 male sperm whales off West Coast, Auckland, NZ; will be there again tomorrow to process the stomachs of 11 of them. Have heaps of pics of colossal and giant squid battle scars on their heads ....

.... and we smell terrible!

Till morrow
Us
 
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