Colossal Squid (Mesonychoteuthis) Pictures

steve any chance the pictures in the start of this thread could be reposted? they dont seem to work anymore. or if anyone else got them saved they could post them
 
Dr O'Shea,

Many thanks for your reply to my question about the April '03 Ross Sea specimen.

I hope you're right: be amazing to see one of these extraordinary creatures live.

Frankly, only if the sighting is by scientists can I envisage the squid not being killed or mutilated: those seeing it, without any background knowledge, and especially fisherman, must be so frightened/horrified one can almost understand why they'd try to do the thing in. Not that that's acceptable.

But, again, many thanks for such a detailed and informative reply.
best
D
 
Asimov said:
any chance the pictures in the start of this thread could be reposted?

Sure, here are some of the interesting ones again.
 

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To which can be added the following, from our latest wee escapade. You've just got to dig that ring on her finger!!!
 

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... and these too, of Mesonychoteuthis beaks with an LRL of 48mm!!! Kat has far-better shots (emulsions) than these poorly exposed digitals, but they'll appear in due course.
 

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Steve and Kat, two questions:

1) How does the Mesonychoteuthis LRL in the above specimen compare to a typical Architeuthis?

2) Having read above of the new material you have observed recently, how happy are you with the reconstruction you advised on recently for the Discovery Channel? Is there anything about the model you would like to change with hindsight? (Image attached below).

Thanks!
 

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Howdo Phil. We'd have to measure LRLs on Archi for a true comparison, but the LRL really isn't the most informative measure for describing total beak size (the rostral length is quite short relative to the beak size in Architeuthis - meaning it has a short rostrum).

I'm quite happy with the Messie reconstruction we did several years ago for that AFO series, until we know otherwise. We did look at a few other cranchiids whilst down, and are convinced that the eyes were simply torn from the side of the head (and must have been rather substantial in size).
 
Now THAT'S what I call a beak!!!!!!

Love the ring Kat!


BTW the messie model has formally been offered to us (long term loan!) and we are now in the process of raising funds to repair it and get it on display. The aim is have all ready for the December School Holidays (major summer holidays in NZ). Then we're haveing squid etc as our holiday theme. Should be quite an attraction! I'll post pics closer to the event!

Cheers

J
 
If you just scale up linearly from the size of the beak in the full specimen you've examined, how big does that make the beak's owner? That's the biggest messie beak ever recorded, even counting whale-stomach versions, right? (Yeah, I know just scaling it probably makes naive assumptions, but I'm curious)
 
Thanks, Jean... the ring used to be a fork, but someone got creative with the tines. Had a spoon ring once as well, but it was distinctly less squiddy. :wink:
Phil, I don't think we observed anything too new and surprising... had to revise our previous measurement of the LRL (it's 37 mm), and confirmed that Arms IV are definitely, and markedly, the shortest, which has some interesting implications for Messie's natural posture.
 

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