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LIVE Giant Squid Photographed
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| ::TranceVanDyk:: |
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20050927/sc_nm/squid_dc
Scientists capture giant squid on camera
PICS
1 hour, 41 minutes ago
LONDON (Reuters) - Japanese scientists have taken the first photographs of one of the most mysterious creatures in the deep ocean -- the giant squid.
Until now the only information about the behavior of the creatures which measure up to 18 meters (59 feet) in length has been based on dead or dying squid washed up on shore or captured in commercial fishing nets.
But Tsunemi Kubodera, of the National Science Museum, and Kyoichi Mori of the Ogasawara Whale Watching Association, both in Tokyo have captured the first images of Architeuthis attacking bait 900 meters (yards) below the surface in the cold, dark waters of the North Pacific.
"We show the first wild images of a giant squid in its natural environment," they said in a report on Wednesday in the journal Proceedings B of the Royal Society.
Little is known about the creatures because it has been so difficult to locate and study them alive. Large ships and specialist equipment, which is costly, are needed to study deep sea environments.
The Japanese scientists found the squid by following sperm whales, the most effective hunters of giant squid, as they gathered to feed between September and December in the deep waters off the coast of the Ogasawara Islands in the North Pacific.
They used a remote long-line camera and depth logging system to capture the giant squid in the ocean depths.
"The most dramatic character of giant squids is the pair of extremely long tentacles, distinct from the eight shorter arms. The long tentacles make up to two-thirds of the length of the dead specimens to date," the scientists said in the journal.
They added that the giant squid appear to be a much more active predator than researchers had suspected and tangled their prey in their elongated feeding tentacles. |
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| trancaholic |
| w00t! Great news. Can't wait till they capture the plesiosaur in Loch Ness on film.:) |
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| Dupz |
wow! :eyes:
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| metalgearsolid |
| It doesn't look that big. |
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| DrUg_Tit0 |
| Totally cool. Shows how much of earth we still have left undiscovered. Hehe, but yeah, if the Loch Ness monster would turn out to be a plesiosaurus, that would be really neat. |
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| tortoise |
| thats relly cool:cool: |
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| Moongoose |
Again i must say, forget about the space program lets build this instead :D Oceans are much more interesting :D
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| dcougar99 |
WTF! Why the hell would they wait a year to get this out?
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The Japanese team, capping a three-year effort, filmed the creature in September of last year, finding what one researcher called "the holy grail" of deep-sea animals..
The results were not announced until this week, when they were published in Wednesday's issue of the British journal
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| Yoepus |
giant squids are cool.
which i could see them in a zoo or somehting though.:D |
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| Fir3start3r |
| I'm suddenly....hungry... :D |
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| MisterOpus1 |
Just more of a reason to put a friggin laser beam on the head of those sperm whales.
That would just be way too cool,
and deadly,
and cool.
Yeah. |
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| occrider |
Does anyone else eat dried squid? It's so good ...
/the gook in me is coming out. |
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