Monster colossal squid is slow not fearsome predator - BBC News

"The team also suggest that the colossal squid's huge eyes do not help it hunt, but instead help it detect and avoid predators of its own in the deep dark waters where it lives."

Why then are the eyes directed forward, giving overlap of the visual fields and 3-D perception - characteristic of a predator species rather than animals with lateral eyes more common in species that need to have all-round vision to detect predators
 
Hear, hear, Chris, let's also conveniently forget about that massive Taningia like fin, giving EVERY indication of agility...
 
If they are, then I think an invite should be sent to ask them to clarify how they came to those conclusions, if not, then perhaps they should be invited over to join us :smile:
 
Yeah, it's also not clear to me that an ambush predator wouldn't make full use of eyesight for hunting.
 
I believe in their findings... We have almost NO information on this species, but the estimates point to an ambush predator...

In the animal world there are still many features that haven't gone away over time, and their fins could be one of those features... This animal may have evolved from a much more agile and motile predator that fully used their eyesight and that lived in shalower waters not that long ago... It may have found in Antarctica the only place that they could live all of their lives and still hasn't fully adapted to life in the deep-sea...
But at those depths and at that temperature it's almost impossible that this animal could be and active predator and capable of high speed swims...

About the eyes... Mystery... More stuff to study =)
 
There's an element of eitherorism to this research that isn't all that helpful. There's no reason M. hamiltoni can't be an active hunter and an ambush predator. Take my old pal C. carcharias as an example. Immature great whites are fast chasers: their diet is primarily fish, and speedy fish at that. Mature whites are fat, stealthy hunters, sneaking up on unwary pinnipeds. Mature and immature whites are also opportunistic scavengers; throw a dead whale their way and they'll take at least one bite. So, there's a single species that in differing contexts and stages of development engages in three very different feeding strategies. Apples and oranges, teuthids and elasmobranchs, but you get my point.

As for the eyes, what good are Meso's predator-detecting capabilities if they don't translate into predator-avoidance? Sure, the fat, drifitng, lazy blob could see the whale pod coming, but then what? Drift more urgently? If the preponderance of Meso beaks in whale stomachs is any indication, Meso's keen eyesight doesn't confer much of an advantage.

Per OB's comment about growth rates, I just don't see how rapid growth to enormous size could be supported by passive feeding, unless the squids have come to an arrangement with lactating sperm whales: "Let us elbow in next to the calves now, and you guys can eat us in two years. Deal?"

Clem
 
Clem;173740 said:
As for the eyes, what good are Meso's predator-detecting capabilities if they don't translate into predator-avoidance? Sure, the fat, drifting, lazy blob could see the whale pod coming, but then what? Drift more urgently? If the preponderance of Meso beaks in whale stomachs is any indication, Meso's keen eyesight doesn't confer much of an advantage.

Per OB's comment about growth rates, I just don't see how rapid growth to enormous size could be supported by passive feeding, unless the squids have come to an arrangement with lactating sperm whales: "Let us elbow in next to the calves now, and you guys can eat us in two years. Deal?"

Clem



Classic Clem :smile:
 

Shop Amazon

Shop Amazon
Shop Amazon; support TONMO!
Shop Amazon
We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon and affiliated sites.
Back
Top