The Plankton Forums

by **lovelyjolie** » December 22, 2006 - 1:40 pm

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news ... squid.html

Bigger photo *HERE*

Japanese Scientists Capture First-Ever Video of a Live Giant Squid

Tokyo, Japan (Dec 22, 2006 07:19 EST) A Japanese research team has succeeded in filming a giant squid live — possibly for the first time — and says the elusive creatures may be more plentiful than previously believed, a researcher said Friday.

The research team, led by Tsunemi Kubodera, videotaped the giant squid at the surface as they captured it off the Ogasawara Islands south of Tokyo earlier this month. The squid, which measured about 24-feet long, died while it was being caught.

“We believe this is the first time anyone has successfully filmed a giant squid that was alive,” said Kubodera, a researcher with Japan’s National Science Museum. “Now that we know where to find them, we think we can be more successful at studying them in the future.”

Giant squid, formally called Architeuthis, are the world’s largest invertebrates. Because they live in the depths of the ocean, they have long been wrapped in mystery and embellished in the folklore of sea monsters, appearing in ancient Greek myths or attacking the submarine in Jules Verne’s “20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.”

The captured squid was caught using a smaller type of squid as bait, and was pulled into a research vessel “after putting up quite a fight,” Kubodera said.

“It took two people to pull it in, and they lost it once, which might have caused the injuries that killed it,” he said.

The squid, a female, was not fully grown and was relatively small by giant squid standards. The longest one on record is 60 feet, he said.

Kubodera and his team had been conducting expeditions in the area for about three years before they succeeded in making their first contact two years ago. Last year, the team succeeded in taking a series of still photos of one of the animals in its natural habitat — also believed to have been a first.

Until the team’s successes, most scientific study of the creatures had to rely on partial specimens that had washed ashore dead or dying or had been found in the digestive systems of whales or very large sharks.

Kubodera said whales led his team to the squid. By finding an area where whales fed, he believed he could find the animals. He also said that, judging by the number of whales that feed on them, there may be many more giant squid than previously thought.

“Sperm whales need from 500 to 1,000 kilograms (1,100-2,200 pounds) of food every day,” he said. “There are believed to be 200,000 or so of them, and that would suggest there are quite a few squid for them to be feeding on. I don’t think they are in danger of extinction at all.”

Source - http://www.underwatertimes.com/news.php ... 2137106980

Another article with video - http://www.cnn.com/2006/TECH/science/12 ... index.html

Another video *HERE* :squid:

This is amazing, but I really wish they hadn't killed the poor thing.

What a gorgeous animal.

by **dinomatocyst** » December 22, 2006 - 2:48 pm

WOW, thats amazing. hopefully the next attempt will be more successful. Is it possible to keep a giant squid in an aquarium?

by **Athenia** » December 22, 2006 - 3:51 pm

I wish it hadn't died as well, but it is very exciting that they caught it on video. Hopefully they can enter the squid's natural habitat to observe it peacefully in the near future.

And dinomatocyst, I personally don't think anyone has tried, so that is difficult to tell. My guess would be that they are either very temperamental or the tanks would not be large enough. They might need more water than can be provided, and could develop defects like their cousin the nautilus if held in captivity. But that's only speculation, of course.

by **Cetacea** » December 22, 2006 - 4:15 pm

Wow, awesome picture. But I do wish they hadn't killed it in the process. Why did they pull it on board, wouldn't it have been much more interesting to try and tag it?

Amazing picture. Let's jsut hope they won't take up 'scientific' giant squid fishing
'I don’t think they are in danger of extinction at all.' ,-that sentence does not bode well at all I fear.....
As for keeping them in an aquarium, since hardly anything is known about them and they have barely ever been caught on film, I don't thnk anyone knows anything about keeping them in captivity just yet but no doubt there are a whole lot of people lined up ready to give it a try :roll:

cough*$eaWorld*cough. Can you imagine what they would make out of an exhibit like that amd how much they would pay for a live specimen... THe more I think about it the more I wish they weren't getting increasingly closer to finding out more about their habits and lifestyle

by **Jimberoo** » December 22, 2006 - 4:20 pm

That's impressive. Very impressive.

When I read it the first time I thought it said that they caught a giant squid 2-4 feet long, and was all "wel that's not very giant". Reading it properly is better haha.

Very little chance you could keep one in an aquarium, not considering the size of it.

by **David** » December 22, 2006 - 5:16 pm

They should have put divers in the water immediately and shot video from there... doh.

by **AngelPace** » December 22, 2006 - 5:32 pm

Oh wow. And here I was imagining I would be the first person to film one alive *sits in corner and cries* But I thought there was something bigger than the giant squid, the collosal(sp?) squid. Was I wrong?