Taningia Danae Question

[cbarela]

I realize that not much is known about these critters but.......
Does anyone know if Taningia Danae inks??
And what predators might it have??
And besides the arms does it have photophores?
Cheers!
-Chris

 

[Tigerkatze_82]

Hello Chris

Taningia danae is such a cool animal

As far as I know it has paired visceral photophores laying ventral to the inksac. If I remember correctly these photophores are used for countershading...
Because an inksac is present, I assume they do ink...

Don't know about predators though...

Cheers,
TK

 

[Scouse]

out of intrest what are they???

cheers

 

[Tigerkatze_82]

@scouse

Taningia danae is a large deep-sea decapod with the largest photophores among all animals (size of a lemon). Tentacles are missing in adults (reduced) - so it's an octo-decapod The two large photophores grow on the tips of both second arms and are covered by lids.

I remember an impressive report about a caught animal attacking some researchers and dispaying interesting light patterns...

Cheers, TK

 

[cbarela]

What Are they

These are REALLLLLY cool squids.
They are large, around 7 feet long. They have hooks instead of suckers and large mantle "wings". I believe they live at the mesopelegic level. The thing that makes them super cool is that two of their arms have large lemon-sized flashers. A truely unique animal.
I am currently working on a painting depicting these guys.

 

[Scouse]

Nice one Tigerkatze_82 & cbarela!!

WWhhhoooaaaa how cool is that!!!! I'll have to have a word with Father Christmas

Has anyone ever kept one of them??

Bet you need a whopper tank!!!! Probably live quite deep dont they!!!

 

[cbarela]

Small ones have been caught and studied at sea but I doubt any have been successfully kept for very long. Certainly not the large ones. Here's another shot showing the photophores.

 

[Scouse]

whhhoo cool nice one!!!

Tell ya what you'd poo yerself if ya saw that comin towards ya in a dark seabed at the early hours wouldnt ya!!!!

 

[Tigerkatze_82]

Re: What Are they

Regarding the predators:

Taningia danae were found in the stomachs of sharks, lancetfishes, tunas, wandering albatrosses and elephant seals... (http://www.dal.ca/~ceph/TCP/Tdanae.html)

I am currently working on a painting depicting these guys.

Please try to upload your painting when it's finished, Chris. I am pretty curious

TK

 

[cbarela]

Absolutely! For the moment here is my rough pencial sketch which I then scan into my computer and start to "paint" over it in photoshop. This is the process that I did with my sperm whale/archie mural which is unbelievably time consuming considering that to get it to look like a painting I take a digital brush, add 6 - 12% of a color onto it, and dot dot dot the color on (sorta like George Seraut). That way it gives the illusion of transperancy and depth to the skin.
With this drawing I'm kinda shooting in the dark (no pun intended) painting an animal whose behavior and live adult appearance is relatively unknown much like the other large squids.
Cheers and happy turkeyday!

-CB

 

[cbarela]

Sorry...that's the same sketch posted twice by mistake.
-cb

 

[Steve O'Shea]

Re: Taningia Danae Question

And what predators might it have??

Here's a piece of Taningia arm from the stomach of a blue shark caught 'down under'.

 

[Tigerkatze_82]

fascinating pictures, Steve... How big was the shark? Did you only found the piece of arm in the stomach or a whole Taningia?

cbarela, your sketch is nice

TK

 

[cbarela]

Thanks for the Arm

Thanks for the arm shots Steve, that's going to help alot.
I know Clyde Roper has written the definative paper on these guys but I have not been able to find it online.
Here's that pencial sketch again. Almost done with the painting (helps having a place that I can post to and get feedback).
You'll notice that I have faintly sketched in that this squid has been snagged on the feeding tenticles of some much larger squid. I'm not to sure about the accuracy of this but I wanted to give a reasonable excuse for it to be flashing, and thus lighting the otherwise dark scene.

-cb

 

[nanoteuthis]

Chris, thank you for that magnificent portrait of one of my fave cephs! You are truly a talented artist -- no surprise that you were chosen by the aquarium to do that mural.

FYI, if you happen to have a copy of Richard Ellis' THE SEARCH FOR THE GIANT SQUID (1998 Lyons Press hardcover), on pp. 149-153 there is a very interesting segment on T. danae.

Too, at the following URL there's an "action" version of that very dramatic photo of a live Taningia:

http://seawifs.gsfc.nasa.gov/OCEAN_PLANET/HTML/squid_taningia_surprise.html

Somehow, I seem to remember another source mentioning that Taningia's ink was also bioluminescent.... but then, I could've dreamed that.... Steve-O?

Always lookin' for more info on them flashers!
[need a T. danae smiley]

Tani (Herself)