Architeuthis again (never a dull moment in New Zealand)

TaningiaDanae said:
That's the trouble with teenagers nowadays -- they just don't know how to have fun!)
:cry: (snif)

Things sure have changed, that's for sure; romance has simply gone - but I just can't put my finger on what it's been replaced with yet .... if in fact it has been replaced with anything..... maybe there's just this huge void in the lives of many young people today.

Had an interesting chat with someone this evening regarding this very thing .... and was surprised to pick up on this thread/your post Tani (I seem to have lost track of much that is both happening online and around me, so it was a surprise).

Time isn't an issue if you live in the past, but I think it all too easy to get caught up in some time warp, listening to and enjoying the same old tunes, blissfully oblivious to the hectic pace of life, love, music and this teen-need to 'experience' everything. Then, suddenly, in a comfortable daze, someone goes and hits you over the head with a sock-full of hot diarrhoea. You awaken at some unknown time and space to find all of your records abused as frizbees, both memories and dreams shattered and scratched like those precious old LP's.

The indignity of it all!!!
 
Speaking of the lack of dull moments in New Zealand, did you guys feel this?

Yup, I HATE earthquakes! Coincidentally we'd just had a mini series on an earthquake that decimated NY.

We had a field team in Doubtful Sound at the time (where the epicentre was) it'll be interesting to hear what they had to say.

we had another in the same region last night (~ 5 on the richter)

Course Perke reckons it could just be Messie grabbing the lower part of the south island :lol: :lol:

J
 
Hi all; we've been quiet on this thread for a wee while - have been a tad preoccupied here in NZ with the old research. Just to let you know that we've taken possession of three Architeuthis this past week - the 2nd, 3rd and forth to be collected/captured this past month (winter-breeding season); all have, as predicted, been captured off West Coast of South Island.

Jean, Kerry, if you're in Auckland Wednesday 3 September we'll have one on public display at AUT. Any other Aucklander/New Zealand traffic, this is a public display. The specimen should be ready for all to see at 1pm. Will post pics of the throng of people that we expect. There's also a telly programme airing on the 7th that will cover recent research on the animals ('Sunday TV', TVNZ), so be sure to watch.
Cheers
Steve
 
Just a wee update. Turns out that one of the 'Architeuthis' specimens was actually a specimen of Taningia danae (we were informed we had three Archi), so in fact we only had two Architeuthis to report and defrost, both male, ~ 1.5 metres in mantle length. Had to take them home (long story) earlier today, so presently there are 2 defrosted(ing) Architeuthis in the garage.

The Taningia happend at a good time as we have a new species of Octopoteuthis down here (Octopoteuthis 'giant'), very closely related to Taningia, to describe. Also, and we'll get pics of this, on the Taningia there appeared to be 'pores' between the 3rd and 4th arms on either side (where the larval 'tentacles' would have been). Never noticed them before - pretty sensational actually - and will now check for such rudiments of tentacles, or their position on the Octopoteuthis. We'll have illustrations of Taningia hooks online in no time.

Kerry and Jean (both Tonmoer's), got their first chance to get up close and personal with Archi. We're needing more squid folk here in NZ!
Cheers
O
 
Steve,

That's pretty interesting stuff. Are mix-ups between Architeuthis and Taningia not uncommon? I've recently seen an illustration (reproduced below) of a captured giant that's come to be known as the Dingle-I-Cosh squid; described in seventeenth-century Ireland as a 19-foot animal, it's been assumed since then to have been Architeuthis, but the contemporary written description (and the illustration) suggest an animal whose proportionally much larger fins ran down the lateral midline of the mantle.

download.php


Looking forward to photos of the hooks, and those "pores" where the tentacles were. Odd that the outgrown appendages left empty sockets behind. Have you measured them, yet?

Clem
 
.... what is one to make of that squid? Actually, and I'm sorry but I don't recall the details of where and when, but there's 'talk' of some giant cranchiid squid, Mesonychoteuthis hamiltoni, in the Arctic based on beaks recovered from sperm whales in the region (many species do have bipolar distributions), although no specimen, not even larval, has been captured in the area. I wrote a paper a few years ago about this beak id business, and how you couldn't admit a species into a regional faunal inventory based on them, as the majority are recorded from stomach contents of long-distance foraging marine predators.

There's always Galiteuthis phyllura, another thing thought to attain mantle lengths in the order of 2.7 metres, according to Nesis (1982/87, the latter the English translation), distributed from the Bering Sea to northern Japan and Baja California, and in the Sea of Okhotsk. Interesting really, 2.7 metres is larger than our Mesonychoteuthis specimen, and considerably larger (0.5 metres) than any Architeuthis that we've seen. Although we believe Mesonychoteuthis probably gets up to 4 metres mantle length (at least), Galiteuthis phyllura is still the largest squid thus far 'reliably' known (Nesis was certainly not one to exaggerate).

.... to cut a long story short, even though that thing depicted in the illustration above doesn't look true to any squid, it is probably more similar to a cranchiid than it is to an architeuthid.

As for confusing Taningia with Architeuthis, it happens all the time (even octopus, eg. Haliphron atlanticus), has been confused by experienced fisheries personnel in the past; basically if it's big and cephalopod people refer it to Architeuthis (along with Idioteuthis cordiformis and some Moroteuthis species).

Those pores are of great interest, and we'll get to the bottom of them soon.
Cheers
O
 
Curiouser and curiouser! Needless to say, I am especially interested in that Taningia. Is it larger than the "giant" T. Danae found off the coast of Spain some time ago? Definitely want to see those pics. What do the photophores look like when they are "extinguished"?

Can you refer me to any illustrations of Galliteuthis? If I'm not mistaken, I've seen a pic or two of the larval form whose arms are held at an angle resembling a cockatoo's crest. Wouldn't it be interesting if ultimately, despite the impressive dimensions of Archi and Messie, "Galli" turned out to be the Big Daddy of them all? And who knows what else may be lurking down there! My knowledge of oceanography is zero so this might be just a flight of fancy, but I had the impression that at a certain depth (and in the absence of a swim bladder), continuous growth is unimpeded. Now that would be some kind of awesome. Cthulhu lives! :shock:

My first impression of that engraving was its resemblance to the mega-Squid in LOTR. (And whassup with that proboscis between the feeding tentacles, which looks too long and weirdly shaped to be the funnel? Reminds me of the alien's extendable jaws in ALIEN.) Then it occurred to me that the winglike flukes suggested the rarely-seen "Mystery Squid" (remember him?) that may or may not be a Magnapinnidae. Come to think of it, have there been any recent sightings and/or scientific updates on that seraphic creature?

So much cool data rolling in from Steve-O's lab lately, I feel like a kid in a candy store!

:sun:
 

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