Giant Squid footage on History Channel

[gonetobaja]

http://www.history.com/shows.do?acti...isodeId=251231


They say its over 100ft ?

[Steve O'Shea]

Dale, pretty pretty pretty please .... any chance of a high res image of the large squid? Not to worry about the size problem; that's to be expected.

[gonetobaja]

Here is the problem with the high res photo of the squid, I was hired for the dive mission as a diver, all footage from the cameras became property of History Channel at the end of the Expedition. In fact I have been under orders to stay quiet about this whole thing untill now. I do have shots from my personal camera but they were taken during the mission, at depths reachable by divers on rebreathers.

Here is a shot of the squid that carried the camera down deep for us. I was in the process of recovering the camera when the squid decided to go for the front of the nearest thing. You can see the camera still attached to the squid, the other end of the cable is in my hand. All the footage of the big squid was caught on that small camera.

[daviddickinson]

http://www.findinternettv.com/Video,...146506011.aspx

[tonmo]

Thanks for posting that link!

[ob]

Oh-My-God, what is that!? 108 ft is ridiculous, but it most certainly looks BIG, very BIG....

[cuttlegirl]

[Animal Mother]

Wow.

[Clem]

Huh. Cool footage.

Hard to say how big those squid are, but I think Thysanotuethis put in an appearance.

Clem

[ob]

Hmmmm.... I watched the video over and over, but I'm not quite sure what led you to the latter conclusion. The early squid(s) are(/is) definitely average sized Humboldt, but on the big one at the end I fail to see hooks, making a really large Humboldt less likely. I also fail to see big diamondshaped fins, however, although I sometimes think i can see tips at one stage, halfway lost in the noise.... You're right about scale being impossible to tell, but the flow of arms and speed/momentum of movement do at least suggest something fairly large, perhaps not truly gigantic, and we could even go as far as to calculate size based on amount of lux coming from the crittercam lights and the dimness of the image...

[daviddickinson]

I found a few more pictures on the thread below, I wonder if they have more footage of the larger squid which will be shown on the actual Monster Quest episode?

http://www.spearboard.com/showthread.php?t=53982

[ob]

Good call and David!

[gonetobaja]

Here is the direct link to the video I found.

http://www.history.com/media.do?id=m...id&action=clip

GTB

[Clem]

Ob,

Upon studying a decent grab, I no longer see a Diamondback. I see something painful.

[ob]

That's Dosidicus gigas in all it's terrifying reality.... I am seriously making an effort with regards to interpreting dimness as scale indicator, my estimate at arm length for the large mystery squid is around 1 meter, making it sizeable, within the 1,5 to 2 meter ML. It could, however, be (a lot) larger, but I don't think much smaller. I love its number 1 pair, beautifully poised in attack mode. The keels on what I take to be pair 3 are very reminiscent of Dosidicus, but I fail to see hooks, Architeuthis dux has less profound keels, but that would simply be too good, wouldn't it, Clem?

This counts amongst my favourite shots of Dosidicus in the wild.

[Steve O'Shea]

Ob,

Upon studying a decent grab, I no longer see a Diamondback. I see something painful.

Hi Clem, Ob. I'm a tad confused by this discussion. Are you referring to the large squid at the end? Those aren't hooks on the frame grab Clem, but trabeculae (either side of the sucker rows) - not an Architeuthis characteristic. I could be misinterpreting the discussion going on though.

I'd need to see much more footage before making an id on this one; unfortunately the 'History' channel we get here differs from that in the US; it hasn't aired here at all (yet).

[ob]

Sorry for introducing the "hook" word in this one, my fault, wanted to keep it in sensible English but appear to have achieved the opposite . I think we're in agreement the attacking squid of framegrab fame halfway through is Dosidicus, it's the large squid at the end that has us fascinated, or me at least, because at first glance I don't think it's Dosi...

[daviddickinson]

Even the best shots that I could pick out only give an impression of a large squid, although I am no ceph expect - just an observer to the forums mostly! It's tantalising footage though....

[monty]

Hi Clem, Ob. I'm a tad confused by this discussion. Are you referring to the large squid at the end? Those aren't hooks on the frame grab Clem, but trabeculae (either side of the sucker rows) - not an Architeuthis characteristic. I could be misinterpreting the discussion going on though.

I'd need to see much more footage before making an id on this one; unfortunately the 'History' channel we get here differs from that in the US; it hasn't aired here at all (yet).

As far as I know it hasn't aired in the US yet, either, just the trailer/teaser.

[Animal Mother]

Ob,

Upon studying a decent grab, I no longer see a Diamondback. I see something painful.

Those are some freakin scary looking arms... I would NOT want to be touched by those.