Friday, September 30, 2005

Giant Squid caught on film!


My dream of being the first person to capture the giant squid, Architeuthis, on film has been shattered! Japanese scientists recently published the first live images ever captured of the largest known invertebrate. Scientists have been doing all sorts of crazy things (sitting around in ROVs, attaching cameras to sperm whales -- the primary predator of the giant squid) to try and see the giant squid in it's natural habitat. These guys did it by studying sperm whale diving patterns and using a relatively simple bait and hook (with camera). They estimate the length of the animal they saw as over 8m (I believe that includes the lengthy tentacles).

Check out the Smithsonian Architeuthis expedition here for more information about the hunt for the giant squid.

1 comment:

Roger said...

Karina had the same dream, and she got to fight with the Squid. Here she is... http://www.mobuzz.com/shows/2180.html