Hi, I'm writing a paper on Architeuthis dux, and I was wondering what the largest size was. This site say 37 feet, but all the other sites like "Smithsonian" say about 60 feet. Is there anyone who can clear this up!

you might want to look at the giant/colossal fact sheet....

http://www.tonmo.com/science/public/giantsquidfacts.php

keep in mind that tentacles are elastic and can be stretched longer than theyd normally be....

oh, and :welcome:

Howdo GPO87

WK has directed you to the ONLY site online that presents accurate data. I don't understand why other sites perpetuate this 60-foot (20 metre) myth. Given the number of these animals that have been recently (last few years) reported in the press, and documentaries that have screened, don't you think it strange that every animal has been considerably shorter than 60 feet? It's even more strange that not a single photograph of such a humungous animal exists!

The beaks and pen (gladius) of the purported 57-foot animal from New Zealand (on which the exaggerated '60 foot' claim is made) are actually smaller and shorter than comparable structures from standard-sized 30-foot animals that we see today. In other words, complete exaggeration!

So,

I wish I had an opportunity to write about giant squid! What class and grade is this for? A very good source to use is a book you probably already have: Search for the Giant Squid by Richard Ellis. Great book.

Good luck, and send me your final draft when you are done!

The one and only,
Squidman

:oshea:

Actually, it's not for any class. One of the scholarships I'm entering for University is about scientific discoveries! I thought that giant squid was the most amazing discovery so....

:)

I'm also writing a school presentation on Giant and Colossal Squids its almost finished.

Does anybody remember the late Dr. Frederick Aldritch on Arthur C. Clarke's Mysterious Universe stating his belief that Architeuthis gets to be 150 feet in length? It's amazing what respectable people will say once the cameras get turned on!

Incidentally, that same episode also has a USN spokesman talking about the run-in that the destroyer U.S.S. Stein had off San Diego with what was apparently a Moroteuthis, as well as tonmo member Tom Williams being interviewed regarding a cryptozoological expedition to Papua in search of the legendary "lady-fish".

Does anybody remember the late Dr. Frederick Aldritch on Arthur C. Clarke's Mysterious Universe stating his belief that Architeuthis gets to be 150 feet in length? It's amazing what respectable people will say once the cameras get turned on!

Incidentally, that same episode also has a USN spokesman talking about the run-in that the destroyer U.S.S. Stein had off San Diego with what was apparently a Moroteuthis, as well as tonmo member Tom Williams being interviewed regarding a cryptozoological expedition to Papua in search of the legendary "lady-fish".
A Moroteuthis what? What in the world is that?! What's a lady fish?

Does anybody remember the late Dr. Frederick Aldritch .....

The original GS guru - the man that started all of this. Unfortunately I never met him, nor the late Gil Voss, but we do owe a lot to the both of them (and to G.C. Robson!!). All we ever do is re-invent the wheel.

Robson was a genius; some say insane. It's a very fine line!

A Moroteuthis what? What in the world is that?!

A very large and impressive squid indeed, Chrono. Have a look at this photo of a large specimen (which also demonstrates how teuthology can drive one insane in extreme cases):

http://www.afsc.noaa.gov/race/media/photo_gallery/photos/Molluscs/Cephlapoda/sqdbrnco.jpg

A very large and impressive squid indeed, ....[/url]

The MOST interesting thing, Phil, is that DNA research is now pointing to a VERY close relationship between Architeuthis & Moroteuthis!!! The juveniles of each are basically identical, and they share a number of rather unique character states.

When I proposed this years ago I was laughed at :sad:

On a different thread, has anybody else heard of the U.S.S. Stein and it's encounter with an unseen deep-water beast?

Also, Robson was insane, but brilliant!

:cthulhu:

Robson who?

How bigg does the squid gorw? I mean that's not really big compared to the pserson sitting on it ( which makes it strangly like wrestling when he was holding up the tentacles....) If that's about a adult, and the destroyer was so big, why would someone notice it?

Chrono, the moroteuthis (in my case off our California coast, M. Robusta - cute, has retractible hooks, from what I've been told, like a cat) is also found on the West side of the Pacific in your neck of the woods (maybe a little further North) as Moroteuthis Japanicus. I might've spelled that last one incorrectly, but please forgive. The late Dr. Dustin Chivers of the Steinhardt Aquarium in San Francisco once told me that a 10-foot Moroteuthis was speared about 50 feet off the Monterey Bay peir by a scuba diver.

The ladyfish of legend is the mermaid. What Tom Williams was trying to do is correlate that the mermaid legend honestly did derive from sightings of dugongs in Papua and the Indonesian archipelago. To his satisfaction, he found that the stories met up.

Erich :smile:

Something relatively small collided with the radar/sonar dome below the water-line on the bow of the U.S.S. Stein and suddenly the entire ship went blind, meaning it could have fallen victim to any Soviet submarine in the vicinity. It had to immediately turn-around and return to port in Coronado (in S.D. bay), going into drydock. When they examined the rubber housing around the dome, they dug-out large chitonous claws, then contacted Scripps Institute to find out what it was. This is all on officcial USN record; I'm not making it up. I think some kind of large, dying ceph had floated to the surface over deep water, and the Stein collided with it just six miles off San Diego.
Not impossible, our coastline nose-dives a few miles, replete with canyons and other deep areas. Perfect for big cephs.

:cthulhu:

Sorry, but I'm on the Asian side of the Pacific ( East coast)
Thanks. However, 10 f00t is still not very big comapred to a destroyer.

It might not be the Moroteuthis, it might be some kinds werid squid that we have never heard of. Perhaps a new type like moronteuthis :lol: And we never really paid attention since we all though that they were giant squids.

Oops,

You're still West compared to me, but sorry. Also, if the rubber housing on the dome is compromised - heck, it could be a two-foot creature. You or I could do it with a pocket knife; it's just rubber. A squid with claws could easily accomplish this, and suddenly a giant warship COULD (I wish I could figure-out how to do italics) be compromized by a ceph just 10-feet-long. :sink:

I saw these hooks years ago ... but have probably misplaced images. I'll dig around.

Unfotunately, all the evidence belongs to the United States Navy, and I sincerely doubt they'll give up any evidence that shows their multi-million dollar technology can be compromised by a cephalopod. They're, well, rather arrogant that way. Oh well, I grew up in the USAF, and that seems to be the pattern. Think about various physics-defying UFOs the lunatics are always claiming came from one star cluster or another. I've seen them. They're all courtesy of our tax-payer money. I've even seen them later on cable TV docs showing failed projects that were tested and the gov. said no. But they flew. They just weren't cost-effective or otherwise useful. It's why I pay no attention to the conspiracy-theorist junkies. The real stuff is all buried in plain-sight in the public archives.Conspiracy-freaks never think about looking for all the outrageous stuff governments leave there. I guess none of them have the patience to do any archival work. Much as I admire their cynicism and suspicion, Ye gawwds, what a bunch of naive idiots. Sorry, had to rant.

Erich

ooo..there's a person which finally spoke out. I totaly agree with you erich, go on with rants! :wink:

Re: USS Stein,

This incident was a mentioned a long time ago on this site. Kat mentioned that she had seen poor quality images of the 'hooks' and stated that they did not resemble any part of cephalopod anatomy. I think she said that they looked somewhat like dorsal fin spines from rays.

Will try and find the old thread. I failed to find any images myself unfortunately.

Thanks for the info on Moroteuthis, Steve. Will 'watch this space' as they say.

Sorry, but I'm on the Asian side of the Pacific ( East coast)


The eastern coast of Asia is the western coast, or shore, of the Pacific. :grad:

As for the East/West reference, sorry - was looking in the direction of HK, which from my perspective is certainly West. Sometimes I'm a dumb**s, particularly the other night. :oops:

Erich, you are not dumb but not the brightest.

:bonk: Wabbly Laggy Goola! La dee do doem! :bugout:

As I have told you, Your not dumb.