You have got to love cephalopod researchers. A rotting carcass, possibly of Architeuthis, is found in California — shredded by sharks, missing its eyes and most of its arms, torn by shrieking seagulls, described as bruised, battered, and chewed up — and the scientists are all "Helloooo, Nurse!", and you can just imagine one of their hind legs doing a spastic tarantella and their eyes zooming out big as saucers. Heaven for a squid-fan has to be slimy, ripe, and wrapped in long, ropy tentacles, I think.
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mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
tentacles
I alway admired their guts. I know mine would be spilling out of my mouth at the sight of one of them thingies.
Not the sight, for me, the smell. Then, the feel of putrefying flesh.
I could study the live ones...
Glen D
http://tinyurl.com/2kxyc7
"Heaven for a squid-fan has to be slimy, ripe, and wrapped in long, ropy tentacles, I think."
Hmmm, I wonder what a one-night-stand with one would be like?
Makes me wonder if they're fans of Japanese animated porn...
Wouldn't dinner plates be a better analogy? ;)
It's basically no different than forensic pathology. Most people run away from a rotting corpse, but forensic pathologists make studying them their life's work.
Woot! I love my Monterey Bay!!!!! So much fun research coming out of my town here in Santa Cruz, with the Seymore Center, Long Marine Labs (Go UCSC), and NOAA we see these things quite often. One time in a class at Long Marine Lab years ago we did a necropsy on a harbor porpoise, talk about smelly (but ohh so interesting)! Calamari anyone?
Oh wow, an Animaniacs reference-- good one, PZ!
mmmmm... giant kalamari
uh... huh-huh. He said "tarantella".
You getting all Tom Waits on us PZ?
Next thing you know we'll have photos of him at a Cramps concert with a devilock and a PBR tallboy, kicking sissies around in the pit.
Read an article a couple of months ago that said that certain kinds of giant squid were becoming more common on the Pacific Coast. Needless to say, I found the lurid headlines amusing. Wonder if this squid is part of that population explosion?
[Is] this squid is part of that population explosion?
Not any more.
Hasn't anyone thought of the Guiness world record and try to fry up the biggest calamari ring? Imagine one the size of a truck tire...
I wonder if Hodkin and Huxley were like that. "Holy smokes, Huxley, THIS ONE'S STILL BREATHING! Quick, grab him before the seagulls return!", "right you are HodgkGET AWAY YOU FILTHY BIRDS".
Meh, I just realized no one would get the reference.
Darn it, SC (#6)! I wanted to say that!
I got married at Monterey Bay, right on the beach.
They seem to have found my ex.
tg @ #15
No, but then I had to look it up on Wikipedia, so you've at least done some educating.
Hodkin-Huxley model (developed using giant squid axon)
drat, not linked. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hodgkin-Huxley_model
Squid-fan heaven sounds a lot like certain anime's I've seen. ;-)
Wonder if this squid is part of that population explosion?
It's not necessarily an increase in numbers, so much as moving to a new locale (or re-invading, as that species HAS been there before), due to shifts in ocean currents which locally raise temperatures enough for that species to exploit the area. This has the dual effect of being more hospitable to that species of squid in general, as well as possibly reducing the concentrations of their primary predators.
It happens all the time off the Pacific Coast; whenever there is an El-Niño event, we get warm water being pushed northward, and subtropicals tend to follow it and "invade".
Humboldt squid have been noted periodically off the central CA coast (and northwards) for decades.
I couldn't say if the relatively small overall ocean temps due to climate change are pushing them even farther northward.
There are some good people looking into it at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (including an old professor of mine, Bruce Robison):
http://www.mbari.org/news/news_releases/2007/dosidicus.html
Heh, I just noticed that the guy who found the squid is the person I used to work with at the Pelagic Shark Research Foundation.
I'll have to give him a ring.
anybody have any questions?
(note: Sean is not a biologist, but he does spend a LOT of time out on the water)
Thanks for that link, Ichthyic. I've added it to that article I mentioned earlier. While climate change is certainly affecting the ecology, it's by no means the only thing.
SC, that was an epic win if ever I read one. You win the thread!