Anyone fancy going? (http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/new-squid-on-the-ice-block/2005/12/20/1135032018280.html)

A report and photos would be a lovely addition here...

Im gonna be in Auz around the start of Feb - so I might be able to go.

Anyone fancy going? (http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/new-squid-on-the-ice-block/2005/12/20/1135032018280.html)

A report and photos would be a lovely addition here...

I live in Melbourne! We plan to go early next week, and I will post something on squidblog. For now I just have this information: http://www.squidblog.net/2005/12/20/melbourne-aquariums-giant-squid/ (and if you'd looked at squidblog you'd have seen this news 2 days ago).

For those of you who can't get to Melbourne you can look at a video report here: http://media.fairfax.com.au/?rid=17723&site=age

I live in Melbourne! We plan to go early next week
Hello Dub_Doctor,

$10 if you lick the ice-block.

Cheers,
Clem

I wanna see pics of that. 10 bucks from me too !

Hello Dub_Doctor,

$10 if you lick the ice-block.

Cheers,
Clem

Hell - I'd PAY $10 to get a chance to lick the ice block! Though I may consider that to be part of the $23 admission price.

I'll be going along too as soon as I can but the $23 entry fee is a little steep! I can join for $47 and get unlimited entry so I mmight do that instead. Hopefully this means there will be lots of squid stuf in the gift shop. Hey Dub Doc, want to meet up and go "oh" and "ar" at the exhibit?

Cheers, KRin

Hey Dub Doc, want to meet up and go "oh" and "ar" at the exhibit?

Cheers, KRin

Sounds like a good idea - we may even be able to get together for a "family" ticket. ('Cos all of us at TONMO are family, aren't we?).

$20 if you collect some ice shavings and make a sno-cone.

another 20 from me if you mail me some of that ice. :wink:

Yeah, I want some too. If I get this new job on the horizon, I'll send the $20.

That does seem to be somewhat expensive, but if it allows one access to the whole aquarium for the day, helps pay for the upkeep of the animals and allows one to see a stunningly presented giant squid I'd certainly say it was definitely worth it.

Look forward to reading your report Krin and Dub Doctor!

we will need to see some photographic evidence!!!!

$20 if you collect some ice shavings and make a sno-cone.

I'll try :roll:

But by all reports it won't taste too good:
http://pharyngula.org/index/weblog/comments/im_disappointed_with_this_bit_of_news/

We finally made it to the Melbourne Aquarium today. Sadly it was not possible to lick the icy squid - it was carefully protected behind a thick sheet of glass. But we got close enought for Annalena to introduce her little friend to it.

I must say that apart from the frozen Architeuthis I was not all that impressed with the exhibition, or the aquarium more generally. Some of the fish and reptiles were cool, but it seemed sadly lacking in cephalopods - even the gift shop just had a few octopus souvenirs, and nothing at all celebrating the giant squid.

As for the Monsters of the Deep exhibition, apart from the frozen squid and a video of some Humboldt Squid, there wasn't much else. There was also a small display of Flashlight fish, Dumpling squid and a Sand Octopus, but there were way too many people trying to look at it, so I couldn't get very close. There was also very little information provided, so apart from a bit of a WOW factor it wouldn't be a terribly good educational experience to introduce someone to the wonders of cephalopods.

Hell - I'd PAY $10 to get a chance to lick the ice block! Though I may consider that to be part of the $23 admission price.

Hmmmmmmm and our visitors complain about our NZ$8 per adult or NZ$16 per family entry, OK so we're tiny compared to the Melbourne Aq, (only one room of tanks!) but still..............

Maybe the Melbourne folk need to sit in on our animal encounters (10-15 min talks on the hour) at the moment we do two "colossal squid" ones, admittedly we tend to talk a bit about squid in general , one octopus one and a seahorse and bellowsfish talk they are most popular!

J

Just a quickie to say thankyou to dub_doctor for taking the time to photograph the beast and write a report.

Even though you did not rate the exhibition I'm sure many of us are envious of you for just seeing the squid. There can't be many of these on public display in the world. I think there is one on display in the Tokyo Science Museum, a small one at the aquarium in Plymouth in the UK, and sometime soon one to go on display at the British Museum of Natural History in London.

Anyone know of any others?

Just a quickie to say thankyou to dub_doctor for taking the time to photograph the beast and write a report.

Even though you did not rate the exhibition I'm sure many of us are envious of you for just seeing the squid. There can't be many of these on public display in the world.

No problems Phil. I'm sorry if I gave the wrong impression - it was still awesome to see the giant beast, and I realise how lucky we are to have it here. It is just that the exhibition could have been SO much better.

There is a model of a giant squid on display in the South Australian Museum in Adelaide. Not the real thing, but stilll quite impressive. See: http://www.samuseum.sa.gov.au/page/default.asp?site=1&id=450

that looks really awsome!

Great pics dub_doc, wish I could go see it but the whole other side of the planet thing means It would be a bit more than a day trip.

The aquarium here in Melbourne is, as far as I know, a private concern so seem to be trying to squeeze as much money as possible out of the public. The zoo is $21 to get in as well - an expensive day out for a family.

Nice to see my littlw toy squid having a day out with is new friends!

KRin

There is a model of a giant squid on display in the South Australian Museum in Adelaide. Not the real thing, but stilll quite impressive. See: http://www.samuseum.sa.gov.au/page/default.asp?site=1&id=450

"The model of the giant squid, Architeuthis dux, is 11 metres in length and modelled on the largest squid ever recorded, found in New Zealand waters. From tail to arm tip she measures 5.6 metres, longer than the “colossal” squid Mesonychoteuthis hamiltoni found in Antarctic waters. Add to this the feeding tentacles, 85 metres in length. Architeuthis also possesses the largest eyes of any living animal with a diameter of 25cm"

Oops, comma, anyone? 85 metres?

"The model of the giant squid, Architeuthis dux, is 11 metres in length and modelled on the largest squid ever recorded, found in New Zealand waters. From tail to arm tip she measures 5.6 metres, longer than the “colossal” squid Mesonychoteuthis hamiltoni found in Antarctic waters. Add to this the feeding tentacles, 85 metres in length. Architeuthis also possesses the largest eyes of any living animal with a diameter of 25cm"

Oops, comma, anyone? 85 metres?

We have the model of the Colossal caught in Antarctica (I WILL post pics of her in place I promise!) but the infor we were given is that she's 6m (350kg) and perhaps 2/3 grown...........we're watching out for mummy)

J