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September 28, 2005
giant squid photographed for first time
This is incredible news...up until now biologists have had to depend on giant squid corpses washed ashore or found in the stomachs of harpooned sperm whales.
The find sheds light on a part of our world that we don't know much about. It almost seems easier to conduct research in space than in the depths of our oceans. The photographs taken of the squid conjure up thoughts of Jules Verne and giant apes battling pterodactyls. After thinking about why this is so exciting to me, I figured out that it's the whole mystery component of the story...that despite all the discoveries in the world there are sill mysteries to be found. It's the feeling I used to get when I would go waterskiing on the Mississippi with my family. While waiting for the boat to get back after wiping out, I'd let my legs hang down in the water as I floated on the river. Just a few feet below the surface of the muddy Miss the temperature drops, leaving your legs cold and dangling in the darkness. Imagination churns - "What's under my feet?" I would wonder, imagining giant gar, paddlefish or catfish brushing up against my legs. It always gave me an electrifying mix of fear and wonder. You're sure there's nothing but carp and bluegill down there, yet Legends persist of giant catfish spotted below the locks and dams on the Mississippi River.
I think it's the same reason I like to go fishing even though I rarely keep or eat the fish. I don't choose my lure to catch a particular kind or maximize the size of fish I catch, I choose my lure with the goal of catching the most types of fish. Even a hot fisheries biologist with an electroshock survey setup will not stir up every fish in a stream. Throwing out the lure merely samples what is going on under the water. The water conceals the mysteries below the surface, and as air-breathers we only get an occasional tease of what is actually down there. Most of the time we will never know, as it's not normally our business.
And while the giant squid is now less mysterious to us, they have yet to capture the colossal squid on film. So stay tuned - and don't let your legs dangle too long in the water.
Posted by jimbo at September 28, 2005 11:12 AM
Comments
It's also a tribute to the resourcefullness and patience of the marine biologists and zoologists who have been looking for visual evidence of living giant squids for a very long time.
Most of what's been "hot" in science happens at either the very small (sub-atomic, atomic, and molecular) scale or the very large and far away (planets, stars, black holes, etc.). It's very cool to see a new discovery that is something you can see, touch and feel -- though I don't think it would be advisable to do so, for any number of reasons.
Posted by: scory at September 28, 2005 12:37 PM
I think the biologists call that kind of subject "charismatic megafauna."
Posted by: jimbo at September 28, 2005 1:12 PM
There are gaps in the video footage- therefore I don't believe that the giant squid actually exists!
Posted by: homer at September 28, 2005 1:42 PM
I think the squid came up just to pass the message along that we're all a bunch of assholes.
Posted by: schtzo at September 28, 2005 3:27 PM
Even though this is an amazing discovery and a wonder of nature.
I have this sudden urge to want to fry it up and eat it with marinara sauce.
:-)
Posted by: Dax at September 28, 2005 3:34 PM
Yummmmmm giant calimari - I'm with Dax, get a pan out!
Posted by: TOS at September 29, 2005 7:33 AM
Gee, i didn't know that "neat things" had ceased to occurr in America. Geepers creepers, i'm always the last to hear this kind of stuff.
I guess Dr. Rick Kittles' work is nothing compared to a giant squid pic. Damn. Damn. Damn.
rob@egoz.org
Posted by: rob adams at September 29, 2005 10:08 AM