Isn't she pretty? This is Promachoteuthis sloani, a new species of deep water squid trawled up out of the North Atlantic.
Many more photos of this creature are available online, and you can also download the paper describing it.
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The squid is indeed beautiful, all the more so because the photographs and paper are available online without me having to jump through hoops or cough up money. ^.^
That is one seriously phallic squid.
It looks like a penis with extremely long red hair. Or is that too politically incorrect?
LOL, that was my first thought too! Looks like a circumsized penis :)
I was thinking more like a penis that's been torn off with ooky blood vessels trailing behind.
Is that too gross? I tried to cute it up by saying "ooky"
If your penis looks like that, I'd say it's time for a visit to the doctor.
It looks like it has a refreshing fruits-of-the-forest flavour :)
PZ? What do you mean by "new" species? Some of the drawings of the Promachoteuthis sloani at the photo page you linked to are copyright 1982. Am I missing something?
I agree with the phallic look, but (whispers: my first thought was of some fabulous new sex toy).
::clears throat::
I think it's fabulous that people are still discovering and describing new species!
well people already knew what the giant squid looked like before it was "discovered" in 2004 off of japan.
What a remarkable colour! And I see what people were saying about the sex being a big draw to this web site ...
Daephax,
I might have overlooked something, but many of the pictures at the ToL site were of other Promachoteuthis species. The paper describing (and naming) P. sloani is from this year. The genus, though, was first described quite some time ago.
Mind you, P. sloani is "new" only in a taxonomic sense. Presumably it evolved some time earlier than 2006; perhaps as early as 1997 or so.
Interesting post, PZ.
It's always great when a new species is first described.
It occurs to me that this single paper has added vastly more to our knoledge of the planet than the entire output of the Discovery Institute.
I can see the day coming when cephalopods will rule the world!
RE: Cairnarvon
Trust me, it ain't my penis. I's a girl! Well, a woman and as part of my politically correct sympathies which will last no longer than 24 hours, I am going to call myself a "wo". No more will my description be shackled to that of a "man."
From now on in, it is "wo" or nothing. :)
Well, there's something that'll quickly find its way into Japanese cartoons... or maybe that's where it's escaped from originally.
Martin
Anime is .. well... weird, very weird