Craig is temporarily a post-doctoral fellow at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute who is looking for a permanent position. He spends most of his time balancing his overwhelming geekdom with normalcy so he can function in the real world. Luckily his wife likes his geekiness.
Peter Etnoyer is a Graduate Research Associate at the Harte Research Institute for Gulf of Mexico Studies, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi. He studies deep corals and ocean fronts, and he loves to be on the water.
Kevin Zelnio is a Graduate Student Researcher at Penn State studying the ecology of hydrothermal vent and methane seep communities. He raises awareness of the plight of the spineless through folk music.
Sweet Jesus! Several news agencies are reporting that New Zealand fisherman in the Ross Sea caught the LARGEST SQUID EVER FOUND. It's not Architeuthis dux, the giant squid but rather Mesonychoteuthis hamiltoni, the colossal squid! The monster comes into 450kg (992 lbs). That is 1/2 ton! It is 10m long (32.9ft). The previous record was 300kg from 2003, so you can see this quite a find. As I posted before, while the giant squid is longer, the colossal squid is heavier. "It is believed the crew on the boat stopped winching in the long-line and spent two hours manoeuvring a net under the squid to haul it aboard." My favorite quote is from Dr. Steve O'Shea "He says if calamari were made from the squid the rings would be the size of tractor tires."
Stay tuned for pictures!
Comments
Here you find 2 pictures:
http://www.20min.ch/news/kreuz_und_quer/story/14305224
Posted by: Yubi | February 22, 2007 3:42 AM
Not that we Australians are in the slightest bit sensitive about our friends across the Tasman having bigger squid than us, but that witty quote originally came from a fine Aussie cephalopod biologist.
But it is an amazing animal.
Posted by: Snail | February 22, 2007 2:12 PM
Thanks for clarifying the difference between the two "giant" squids: I keep reading each is the "largest", which would seem to be nonsense, and admit it hadn't occurred to me that what was being measured was different. Length vs. weight neatly explains the seemingly conflicting claims.
Both are amazing animals. (Er, both squids, that is. The Aussie biologist, is, well, ah, let's not go there... ;-) )
Posted by: blf | March 1, 2007 6:27 AM