CapnNemo
Mar 31st, 2006, 04:21pm
Hello all.
I went to London today for the members only talk on the Giant Squid that resides in the Darwin Centre.
For the story of the squid click here:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4756514.stm
The tour was for a total of fifteen members, we had a talk from Jon Ablett, the curator of Molluscs at the Museum, during which he explained the incredible preparations they had to go through to get the squid on display. It's in the working lab of the Darwin Centre as it's the only room that health and safety laws would allow them to put it in (due to the chemicals). Jon said that he has just managed to get in contact with the fishermen who caught the squid (alive) so he will be able to get more information on depth caught, behaviour etc.
Some very exciting news, Jon said that they have just got part of a Colossal Squid! The Arms and the head. At the moment it's residing in Cambridge and Jon was going to look at it tomorrow (1st April) he said the press doesn't know about it yet as he hasn't seen it.
Jon also plugged TONMO and said it's easily the best site for finding out about cephs (Hi Jon if you are on here).
Anyhoo, here's some squid pics and a pic of jon holding a Nautilus in a jar. As you can see the tank is massive. It had to be built specially (they actually contacted artist Damien Hirst to find out where he gets his tanks). The squid is on it's side with the animal's left eye upwards, the two tentacles are stretched out in front.
I went to London today for the members only talk on the Giant Squid that resides in the Darwin Centre.
For the story of the squid click here:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4756514.stm
The tour was for a total of fifteen members, we had a talk from Jon Ablett, the curator of Molluscs at the Museum, during which he explained the incredible preparations they had to go through to get the squid on display. It's in the working lab of the Darwin Centre as it's the only room that health and safety laws would allow them to put it in (due to the chemicals). Jon said that he has just managed to get in contact with the fishermen who caught the squid (alive) so he will be able to get more information on depth caught, behaviour etc.
Some very exciting news, Jon said that they have just got part of a Colossal Squid! The Arms and the head. At the moment it's residing in Cambridge and Jon was going to look at it tomorrow (1st April) he said the press doesn't know about it yet as he hasn't seen it.
Jon also plugged TONMO and said it's easily the best site for finding out about cephs (Hi Jon if you are on here).
Anyhoo, here's some squid pics and a pic of jon holding a Nautilus in a jar. As you can see the tank is massive. It had to be built specially (they actually contacted artist Damien Hirst to find out where he gets his tanks). The squid is on it's side with the animal's left eye upwards, the two tentacles are stretched out in front.