Dosidicus gigas, the Humboldt Squid
This is a still from a movie by the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (31MB Quicktime). I've also edited down a slightly more bandwidth-friendly 4.6MB version that shows just the action at the time of the strike.
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Growing up to two meters (six feet) long, Humboldt squid are formidable predators that hunt krill and a variety of fishes. Their normal habitat is within the tropical and subtropical waters of the East Pacific. Over the last few years, however, Humboldt squid have begun moving into cooler-water…
These stories about the Humboldt squid invasion off the California coast keep turning up — the latest from the San Jose Mercury News is broadly informative, and even cites a fresh new paper in PNAS. The work correlates the depth range of the squid with that of the Pacific hake, and also shows a…
If you live anywhere near the Southern California coast, you are aware they are being invaded by the Humboldt squid. In Ventura County they are hauling in boat loads. Two things bug me about these posts.
1. Most of the articles refer to the Humboldt Squid as the Giant Squid, a common name…
For those in the area, the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute will hold its annual open house from noon to 5 p.m. June 30 at 7700 Sandholdt Road in Moss Landing.
We will all be there, staff, scientists, and engineers, explaining our deep-sea research and discoveries. You will be able to see…
http://youtube.com/watch?v=lfGVWxbnAYg
Last week, PZ, I accused you of having dinner plate sized eyes after posting at 1am and 6am. I regret that statement. It seems that you pre-schedule posts, especially ones like these. I think this is a jolly good idea (as we Brits say), as it spreads the interest of new posts over a longer time period.
Here's another video of an unspeakable cruelty.
Mike-- Dig that kid smacking the squid after he catches it. Someone needs to smack HIM around while he's struggling for his life. Might teach him a lesson about compassion.
Dave, stop trying to inject compassion into the world, you anthropomorphizer!
It needs a caption like that line out of Men in Black: "Ever pull the wings off a fly? Wanna see the fly get even?"
Something like: "Just one word for you, ape-boy: CALAMARI!"
AAAGH! That's just about when I lose my mouthpiece, fumble my knife out of the sheath and watch as it drifts away from my grasping fingers into the depths.
Unfortunately, that was a sacrificial squid. Humbolts are in league with Architeuthis. Watch for future incidents where the smaller Humbolt takes one for the team to distract the humans while an Architeuthis scores the boat and all the people on it.
Let me add on to your scenario. Small Humbolt takes one for the team, Architeuthis scores a couple people, Mesonychoteuthis takes the boat down. Don't forget a few slaps in the face for the kid, either.
I think you guys may have missed this one. its even more brutal than the squid attack!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GbGxnS8DACk
Out of curiosity, were Humboldt squid always off the Californian coast, or did they start migrating in from Peru recently?
Does anybody have any good recipes?