Scientists given rare glimpse of 350-kilo colossal squid

[Buster's Uncle]

Scientists' colossal squid exam a kraken good show
Associated Press
By NICK PERRY  5 minutes ago



In this Dec. 2013 photo provided by a crew member of the boat San Aspring of New Zealand fishing company Sanford, Capt. John Bennett shows a colossal squid he and and his crew caught on the boat in Antarctica's remote Ross Sea.  The creature, which has tentacles like fire hoses and eyes like dinner plates, was caught a mile below the surface. (AP Photo/San Aspring crew of Sanford fishing company)



WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — It was a calm morning in Antarctica's remote Ross Sea, during the season when the sun never sets, when Capt. John Bennett and his crew hauled up a creature with tentacles like fire hoses and eyes like dinner plates from a mile below the surface.

A colossal squid: 350 kilograms (770 pounds), as long as a minibus and one of the sea's most elusive species. It had been frozen for eight months until Tuesday, when scientists in New Zealand got a long-anticipated chance to thaw out the animal and inspect it — once they used a forklift to maneuver it into a tank.

The squid is a female, and its eight arms are each well over a meter (3.3 feet) long. Its two tentacles would have been perhaps double that length if they had not been damaged.

Kat Bolstad, a squid scientist from the Auckland University of Technology who was leading a team examining the creature, described it as "very big, very beautiful."

"This is essentially an intact specimen, which is almost an unparalleled opportunity for us to examine," she said. "This is a spectacular opportunity."

Many people around the world agreed: About 142,000 people from 180 countries watched streaming footage of the squid examination on the Internet.



Scientists holds the arms of a colossal squid as they examine the squid at a national museum facility Tuesday, Sept. 16, 2014, in Wellington, New Zealand. The colossal squid, which weighs 350 kilograms (770 pounds) and is as long as a minibus, is one of the sea’s most elusive species. It had been frozen for eight months until Tuesday, when scientists in New Zealand got a long-anticipated chance to thaw out the animal and inspect it _ once they used a forklift to maneuver it into a tank.(AP Photo/Nick Perry)


Colossal squid sometimes inhabit the world of fiction and imagination, but have rarely been seen in daylight. Remarkably, Bennett and his crew on the San Aspiring toothfish boat have caught two of them. Their first, hauled in seven years ago, is on display in New Zealand's national museum, Te Papa.

Bennett said there was so much excitement about his previous catch, he thought he had better save the latest one for research.

"It was partly alive, it was still hanging onto the fish," Bennett recalls. "Just a big bulk in the water. They're huge, and the mantle's all filled with water. It's quite an awesome sight."

Susan Waugh, a senior curator at Te Papa, said scientists hope to find out more about where the creature fits in the food chain, how much genetic variation there is among different squid types, and basic facts about how the colossal squid lives and dies.

She said scientists plan to further assess the condition of the squid before determining whether to preserve it for public display.

Bolstad said it's possible that ancient sightings of the species gave rise to tales of the kraken, or giant sea-monster squid. She said sperm whales often eat colossal squid and are known to play with their food, and sailors may have mistaken that for epic battles.

"On the other hand, we don't really know what the grog rations were like at that time at sea, either," she said. "So it may be that we've got a bit of a fisherman's story going on there, too."


http://news.yahoo.com/scientists-colossal-squid-exam-kraken-good-show-115149633.html

[Buster's Uncle]

Scientists given rare glimpse of 350-kilo colossal squid
AFP
29 minutes ago



Kat Bolstad (L) of Auckland University works on a colossal squid with Aaron Evans of Otago University as it is defrosted at Te Papa labs in Wellington, New Zealand on September 16, 2014 (AFP Photo/Marty Melville)



Wellington (AFP) - Scientists said Tuesday a female colossal squid weighing an estimated 350 kilograms (770 lbs) and thought to be only the second intact specimen ever found was carrying eggs when discovered in the Antarctic.

The squid had been kept in optimum freezing conditions at the Te Papa museum in Wellington ever since it was brought back to New Zealand from the seas off the frozen continent during the southern hemisphere's summer.

The colossal squid is thought to extend up to 4-5 metres (13-16 feet) from tip to tentacle and weigh up to 500 kilograms. Its relation, the giant squid, can grow a lot longer but is much more spindly.

This specimen, like other octopus and squid species, has three hearts -- one to pump blood around the body and two for its gills (lungs) -- and is estimated to be about 3.5 metres in length.

"This one had two perfect eyes," scientist Kat Bolstad from Auckland University of Technology who led the examination told AFP.

"They have very large and very delicate eyes because they live in the deep sea. It's very rare to see an eye in good condition at all."



The tentacles of a colossal squid, defrosting at Te Papa labs in Wellington, New Zealand, on September 16, 2014 (AFP Photo/Marty Melville)


Measurements revealed the animal's eye was 35 centimetres (14 inches) in diameter, and confirmed that the specimen was a female.

"We were excited to find that out... as it turns out this one is a female, and it has got some eggs," Bolstad told reporters.

"This was by far the most perfect colossal squid that I have seen."

The only other time scientists anywhere have had the chance to examine an intact colossal squid was in 2008, also at Te Papa, the museum said. That specimen was also female.

Bolstad said the latest specimen was so well preserved the scientists were able to examine it with an unusual level of detail, including the lens on the eyes.

"The fact that we have a specimen in good shape, but that we can get so much information from and still have in good shape, is a win-win," Bolstad said

The squid was found by a fishing vessel in Antarctica last southern hemisphere summer when the boat's captain, recognising what had come to the surface, carefully netted it and brought it onboard.

The number of colossal squid in the ocean is unknown but Bolstad said sperm whales in the Antarctic ate a lot of the animals.

After samples were taken from the squid examined on Tuesday, it would be preserved for further research and display, she added.


http://news.yahoo.com/scientists-given-rare-glimpse-350-kilo-colossal-squid-102948178.html