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PZ Myers is a biologist and associate professor at the University of Minnesota, Morris.
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« Friday Cephalopod: Blackwater hang | Main | What is in the water on C Street? »

Blessed is San Diego, for it shall be eaten first

Category: Cephalopods • News
Posted on: July 17, 2009 9:01 AM, by PZ Myers

It's a regular event nowadays that the Humboldt squid move up the coast of California, stirring up a little hysteria as they go. These are big squid and they can be aggressive, but San Diego is probably safe.

Probably.

Although you might wonder why a cephalopod enthusiast lives in Minnesota, about as far from the sea as anyone can get…

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Comments

Posted by: Timothy (TRiG) | July 17, 2009 9:18 AM

Gah.

I was browsing BBC News, saw that story, thought "I must mention that on Pharyngula", came here, and it was the first thing I saw.

TRiG.

Posted by: Zeno | July 17, 2009 9:27 AM

Hmmm. San Diego.

Posted by: JD | July 17, 2009 9:27 AM

Squidmas is coming early this year.

Posted by: Richard C | July 17, 2009 9:28 AM

The furthest point in North America from any ocean is actually in South Dakota, just south of Badlands NP. But the true Mecca for thalassophobes is a point in northwestern China about 200 miles north of the city of Urumqi, 1645 mi from any ocean.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pole_of_inaccessibility

Posted by: Ted Dahlberg | July 17, 2009 9:29 AM

This story wrapped its loving tentacles around my batrachian heart as soon as I saw the headline on the BBC News site.

Posted by: XD | July 17, 2009 9:33 AM

Study catches 2 bird populations as they split into separate species

Posted by: ice9 | July 17, 2009 9:36 AM

Note that the NYT is not calling them "Humboldt Squid." They're calling them Exotic Face-clamping Death Squid, or something like that. Nice work, journalists.

But you live here in Minnesota because you are seeking the as-yet-undiscovered, paradigm-shifting, link-establishing Minnewaska Surthermoclinical Sunfish Squid, to be Myeri Crackerensis. I know you have been keeping the work a secret, but I just had to tell.

Did you read Gerson's penisaean to Collins? Just in case the accomodationist threads are waning at all:

http://www.startribune.com/opinion/commentary/50978062.html?elr=KArksc8P:Pc:U0ckkD:aEyKUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aULPQL7PQLanchO7DiUr

ice

Posted by: Randy Edwards | July 17, 2009 9:43 AM

Ruh roh. And I was just getting ready to go home to San Diego.

Posted by: Rainbow Rascal | July 17, 2009 9:43 AM

video available at
http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory?id=8102059

#10

Posted by: aiabx | July 17, 2009 9:44 AM

Ph'nglui mglw'nafh C'thulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn

#11

Posted by: Tim | July 17, 2009 9:51 AM

Several years ago, a fisherman claimed to have caught a small octopus in the Missouri river. Sounds unlikely, though Spawn of chtulhu in the Kansas City area is occasionally believable.

#12

Posted by: CGM3 | July 17, 2009 9:57 AM

"Although you might wonder why a cephalopod enthusiast lives in Minnesota, about as far from the sea as anyone can get..."

I just assumed it was because you Knew Something...

#13

Posted by: Dan L. | July 17, 2009 10:00 AM

I was watching some documentary on cephalopods and the Humboldts were scary. Big and swarmy and they're electric to boot. Dr. Evil couldn't come up with a more terrifyingly absurd animal.

#14

Posted by: Eleanor | July 17, 2009 10:06 AM

Well here was me, about to say something witty about Kazakhstan, and then it turns out somebody else has done actual research and apparently Urumqi is actually more farther from oceans? Though I just looked at that Wikipedia page, and it counts the Black Sea as an ocean, even though it's not a cephalopod habitat. So Kazakhstan beats Xinjiang, maybe?

#15

Posted by: Felix | July 17, 2009 10:22 AM

The more you know about cephalopods, the farther you want to get from the sea. If you know the TRUTH that is.

#16

Posted by: Michael Simpson | July 17, 2009 10:49 AM

Maybe PZ is angling for a staff position at Scripps Institution of Oceanography with a concurrent faculty position at the University of California San Diego. Well, if he did, it certainly would cut down travel time for me to hear him speak.

PZ, in case you're reading, it does not snow in San Diego.

#17

Posted by: Robbie Taylor | July 17, 2009 10:54 AM

Squids are nothing - what about the Alaskan BLOB?!?!

http://www.rantrave.com/Rant/Alaska-Blob-The-Goo-Mystery-Deepens.aspx

#18

Posted by: Sili | July 17, 2009 11:11 AM

Is it possible to make bacon from Humboldts?

#19

Posted by: caerbannog | July 17, 2009 11:17 AM

Unfortunately, we San Diegans recently lost perhaps our finest research institution -- The Institute for Creation Research. Now all we have left are The Scripps Institution of Oceanography, the Scripps Research Institute, the Salk Institute of Biological Studies, UCSD, etc. San Diego just ain't what it used to be.

So that might dampen PZ's interest in our city.

On the brighter side, though, PZ would have a large choice of brain-dead megachurches to attend. I'd especially recommend "The Rock", which is just a little over a mile from my place. It's a fairly new monster megachurch that occupies a good-sized chunk of the former Naval Training Center. Plenty of brain-deadness there for PZ to blog about.

And then if he wanted to hang out with a more intelligent crowd, he could always go swimming in the ocean and spend some time with the squid.

#20

Posted by: caerbannog | July 17, 2009 11:26 AM

And just to whet PZ's interest in "The Rock", here's a church podcast entitled "Who's your daddy: evolution/creation": http://media.therocksandiego.org/rockradio/2009-06-30-rockradio.mp3

Lots of yummy brain-dead goodness there.

Texas ain't got nuthin' on us!

#21

Posted by: Chemgirl | July 17, 2009 11:35 AM

Squid are pretty to look at, but definitely intimidating. So far I've seen them in aquaria (aquariums? aquaria?) and dissected one.

I think I'll keep it that way.

Ia! Ia! Cthulhu fhtagn!

#22

Posted by: XD | July 17, 2009 11:41 AM

@#17

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shoggoth

#23

Posted by: JimmyK | July 17, 2009 12:02 PM

The Humboldt squid is for losers. San Diego, you suck.
Japan, on the other hand, is having problems with Nomura's jellyfish at the moment.

http://www.pinktentacle.com/images/echizen_kurage_07.jpg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nomura%27s_jellyfish

Awesome.

#24

Posted by: Happy Tentacles | July 17, 2009 12:08 PM

And so the Cephalopod invasion begins . . .

Be afraid, mammals, your Overlords have arisen.

#25

Posted by: Wandered_In | July 17, 2009 12:14 PM

Well, time to start handing out those pamphlets, innit?
The world must be warned, and only those too dogmatic in their silly beliefs in a kind, paternalistic god will be left to face the eternal horror of the coming Age, not of Man, but of other things...
But sticking around might be worth it, just to catch the looks on some of those religious leaders' faces.

#26

Posted by: garth | July 17, 2009 12:25 PM

a few years back we had a squid-beaching here (i'm in san diego, poor me). i live inland, probably 20 miles from the ocean. somehow a squid ended up right outside my driveway, it was probably three feet long. i ran over it with my car without realizing it was there, and let's just say sitting in the desert sun all day doesn't make a dead squid smell tasty. my car reeked for a week, despite a wash attempt.
my problem is this: how did that squid get there? i have two theories: first, it was an undead squid with a lust for my brains in its heart, and it was on its what to my house to finish me off when i did a number on its hood with my radials. second, it was some sort or paratrooper squid who got blown off course and underestimated how much water it needed.

those are really the only logical choices.

#27

Posted by: uncle frogy | July 17, 2009 12:31 PM

gradite un certo calamaro, signore

#28

Posted by: Erp | July 17, 2009 12:59 PM

Scientists now put tracking devices on Humboldt squid. Professor William Gilly's Lab has been doing a fair bit of research on them.

#29

Posted by: Christopher Guerra | July 17, 2009 1:58 PM

did u hear about the giant biomass floating in the waters of Alaska? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WvBWEaYjgIU i think this would get biological nerve endings tingling. What do u think it is?

#30

Posted by: Christopher Guerra | July 17, 2009 2:01 PM

did u hear about the giant biomass floating in the waters of Alaska? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WvBWEaYjgIU i think this would get biological nerve endings tingling. What do u think it is?

#31

Posted by: miskidomleka | July 17, 2009 2:03 PM

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=6ae_1247810168

;-)

#32

Posted by: Rev. BigDumbChimp | July 17, 2009 2:03 PM

WAIT!?!? IS THERE A GIANT BIOMASS FLOATING IN THE WATERS OF ALASKA?

#33

Posted by: Mu | July 17, 2009 2:23 PM

So, does a cephalopod enthusiast have nightmares about being strangled by a tentacle coming out of the sink even in Minnesota?

#34

Posted by: Cephus | July 17, 2009 2:34 PM

I'm going to be in San Diego in a couple of days, maybe I'll get attacked by a Humboldt squid? Granted, they'd have to make it inland a bit since I don't expect to be anywhere near the beach, but still...

Who knows, maybe they've learned to take the trolley?

#35

Posted by: daveau | July 17, 2009 3:24 PM

...which can weigh up to 45kg (7 stone)...

Thanks for the helpful conversion. Why not just use newtons while you're at it.

#36

Posted by: windy | July 17, 2009 3:26 PM

Alaska will be eaten first! Suck it, San Diego!

#37

Posted by: LightningRose | July 17, 2009 3:34 PM

What PZ, you've never heard of the North American Giant Prairie Squid, a close relation to the Rocky Mountain Giant Squid?

#38

Posted by: RHM | July 17, 2009 4:38 PM

This story reminded me of a squid event in my life, when I was a teen:
While camping on the coast of Maine, (my tent pitched at the edge of a large inlet) my sleep was interrupted in the early dawn by some odd noises. Squawking, sloshing, wet slapping noices. I cautiously exited the tent to peer over the edge of the cliff, expecting to see water. Instead, I saw mud and rocks, hundreds of squid (flopping in their death throws), and a multitude of heron and other birds having a grand feast. I remember being utterly shocked: "There are squid in these waters?!" I really didn't have a clue.
I watched the feeding frenzy for a long time, both repulsed and fascinated.
I wonder what it would have been like if they had been Humbolt squid? The stuff of nightmares, perhaps?

#39

Posted by: babayaga | July 17, 2009 5:05 PM

Delurking to post a link to a story with more detail:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2009/07/16/national/a115502D18.DTL

#40

Posted by: Alan Kellogg | July 17, 2009 10:40 PM

Richard C, #4

If you look at Lake Baikal in the right way -what with it's black smokers and the fact it's situated on a rift, you realize that Baikal is the world's smallest ocean; also, at one and the same time, the world largest, smallest, and only fresh water ocean. Which means your location is not all that far from one.

Michael Simpson, #16

It has snowed in San Diego as a whole twice in my lifetime. Depending on the exact location it has snowed in the city more often than that. This is possible because the city covers a lot of territory and encompasses a lot of climatic zones.

San Diego County itself gets snow every year, but at the higher elevations.

We are having a heat wave (low 80s along the coast, with the inland valleys getting three digit temperatures in spots). Making life less fun is the fact humidity has been high, meaning temperatures aren't dropping much at night even though the skies remain clear during darkness.

No reports on whether anybody was harvesting squid much as people harvest grunion during spring tides locally.

#41

Posted by: gaypaganunitarianagnostic | July 18, 2009 12:46 PM

See 'The Sea Raiders' by H.G.Wells
'A heat wave in the mid 80s,' In SE Texas it's in the mid 90s. It's not a heat wave, it's just summer. Humidity? Da hummadiddy we haz it.

#42

Posted by: payaso del mar | July 20, 2009 12:53 PM

fishing out of Sonora one hazy afternoon, couldn't even tell time from the sun & thinking i should head in lest i get caught by dark, when terrified baitfish began freaking all around me, far more panicky than when fish are after em. then i began to see the tentacles flailing above the level of the water & realized i was in the middle of an acre-plus school of feeding humboldts. courageously, did not defecate on self. i did crank up motor and head for shore pronto. one of the more scary and surreal scenes i've witnessed. if you read claims that they don't get near surface during daylight hours, don't believe em.