Kat Bolstad (a.k.a. Tintenfisch) has generously contributed some of the finest photos from the Mesonychoteuthis photo sessions back in April 2003.

Attached are those photos, but they may not be reprinted or reused without permission. Any permission for reuse must be secured with Kat. High-resolution versions of these images are available upon request. Please contact me at email@tonmo.com with any questions.

Steve inspecting hooks (http://www.tonmo.com/images/content/stevehooks.jpg)

Steve hosing down the specimen (http://www.tonmo.com/images/content/stevehoser.jpg)

Steve over the specimen table (http://www.tonmo.com/images/content/stevemeso.jpg)

Mesonychoteuthis beak (http://www.tonmo.com/images/content/beak.jpg)

Steve about to engage in a passionate kiss with Mesonychoteuthis (http://www.tonmo.com/images/content/stevebeak.jpg) :mrgreen:

Thank you Kat and Steve!!

Terrific photos. Steve does look like he's thinking " Ah my lovely, come, be mine". Cute! :smile:

By the way, how is mesonychoteuthis pronounced? I think there was a thread about that not too long ago, but I couln't find it. Is the accent on the "on"?

In the latest Octopodcast (March), you can hear Kat say it correctly (don't go by my version, though!) The discussion is in that Octopodcast thread, in fact...

Thanks Tony, you jogged my memory. I'll go back and listen again.

We usually say 'Me-ZONN-ee-ko-TOOTH-iss.' But listening to various people speak at the ceph conference in Tasmania (CIAC) convinced me that ceph biologists are the last people you should ask for a consensus on pronunciation! :wink:

I'll go with yours. We both speak Minnesotan.

me too, that' how I'd say it Kat

also, as an example, while i remember, from the last octopodcast, if the word ends in an 'i' it is usually pronouned 'eye'

e.g. tintenfischi' would be tin-tin-fish-eye

but i guess that wouldnt happen as kat is a girl it would be 'Me-ZONN-ee-ko-TOOTH-iss tin-tin-FISH-er- ae'

Yeah, normally it would be 'tintenfischae' if named for a woman, but then it gets complicated because 'der Tintenfisch' is a masculine noun, so you could make a case for a masculine ending, except that 'Mesonychoteuthis' has a feminine ending, and the species name is supposed to agree with the genus name... confused? Try the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature (http://www.iczn.org/iczn/index.jsp) for some light reading! :bonk:

Hi all,

Just shifting some photos around on my computer and found some more Meso shots that might be worth having here. All from the 2003 Ross Sea specimen except the small, brown hooks which are from a South Australian specimen that was about ML 1m.

:smile:

More...

And some from the latex model that Discovery made, based on the same specimen, for the Animal Face-Off series.

Jesus, those EYES!!!!!!

WOW!!!

Yeah... we now think they might not be quite so googly... but it was the best info we had at the time. :roll:

Thank you T!!

Yes, thank you for posting this excellent images Kat. No matter how many times one sees images of Messie and it's anatomical details, one never ceases to be amazed at quite how stunning and fascinating the animal is.

Here is the Animal Face-Off model underwater to compliment Kat's images above.

Wow, those pictures are amazing. Despite all the hooks and suckers on it, with the giant eyes it looks rather cute.

You know, I still haven't seen that Animal Face-Off. Does anyone have a copy? I can make a VHS dub of any of my many other squid docs I have for a trade. And also an architeuthis light switch cover.

thickets@uniserve.com

this looks to be a bit or all of the "Colossal Squid vs Sperm Whale (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EDLDzEEV1Ns)" Animal face-off series by Discovery.

The second part of the video is not in english (apparently it was only ever shown in Thailand according to www.tv.com (http://www.tv.com/animal-face-off/show/26169/summary.html?q=animal&tag=search_results;title;4) )although don't read too far into this, it gives away the winner!

(Even though whoever submitted the video called it a giant squid, im pretty sure it's Meso)

That's a short segment from it for sure, and yes, Mesonychoteuthis. I think you'll find an edited version of that AFO episode being produced shortly, but it will not be a part of the AFO series itself. (Something new, better.) It never has aired in the US.

Here's a pic of the model (now called Karunui Maori for big eye) in her current home!

J