Courageous Kiwis Catch Collossal Calamari

While fishing for Patagonian toothfish in Antarctica's remote and inhospitable Ross Sea, the crew of the New Zealand Longliner San Aspiring... of Nelson have caught what looks to be the biggest squid ever landed. Captain John Bennet determined that the specimen was of such scientific value that he suspended fishing operations and ordered his crew to haul the monster into the boat.

The 9 man crew took over 2 hours to get the Colossal Squid ( Mesonychoteuthis-hamiltoni) aboard.

At 33 feet long and weighing half a ton the big red beast is likely the most massive invertebrate ever caught!

The Colossal Squid, is believed to reach maximum lengths a few meters shorter than the Giant Squid, but it is much more massive, as its body is proportionally longer and its more muscular tentacles are relatively short in comparison to the Giant Squid (Architeuthis dux)

A comparison of these two tenticular terrors by people who've gotten their oceanography degrees is here.

So, taking weight into account, New Zealand is now officially ahead of Japan in the squid wars.

Frill Shark Video

First the giant squid, now this.

Japanese scientists recently caught a frill shark on video....then they up and caught it. Unfortunately it died in captivity. It is very rare to find the animal anywhere outside the deep deep ocean, they normally live over 1800 feet down. I wonder if the recent earthquake could have been involved in forcing it to the surface?

Frillsharks are neat, extremely primitive sharks, their bodies are eel-like and they are one of the very few species of sharks with six gill slits per side (the most well know being the cryptically named six gill shark), they are living fossils that may be nearly as old as the Coelocanth, though there is some doubt on that later point as referenced here.

Anyway, a big prehistoric creature from the deep ocean has been forced up off the coast of Japan.....so I guess this isn't really news....




Thanks to Stephen DenBeste for the links.

Christmas Squid!

First video of a live Giant Squid, caught off the coast of Japan by a Japanese research ship.



They really do turn red when angry!

Cool!

END TIMES WATCH: Eels and Groupers....Working Together

Wow!

This is fascinating. It seems that giant moray eels and groupers in the red sea do occasionally cooperate in hunting. The Grouper will lead an eel to areas where prey has hidden in spots too tight for the grouper. The eel will flush out the prey and the two will alternate eating the spoils.


For scale, here are Pics of mid-size representatives of grouper and moray eel.....but not together...hmph. For that go to the video....here.



The article says this is the first example of interspecies cooperation between predators not involving humans. I'm pretty sure that is not correct. Badgers and coyotes do cooperate in hunting voles and such and I think that I read somewhere that Hyenas cooperate occasionally with some big cat in Africa (but I can't find a link for that). Nevertheless this is really interesting, particularly as the scientist involved seems to think that this may well be LEARNED behavior due to the varying levels of skill displayed between "teams". All the more impressive when one realizes these are little fish brains we are talking about.

Just beyond cool.

Iron Men a Stone Sea and an Island Never Before Seen by Man.....

Via Jerry Pournelle I was pointed to this really cool post from the now defunct blog (nay...an actual webLOG:) of the yacht Maiken...on August 17 2006, a large mass of debris was encountered south of Tonga

Upon closer analysis it proved to be rocks. Floating rocks!


Volcanic pumice, foamy lava that cooled with lots of gas in it....


....and where there is fresh lava there is a volcano!

A brand new volcanic island breaking the sea before their eyes!


News reports here and here.
This is just one of the neatest things I've ever seen.

In Which I resort to the "Heh"

Deep Dea News reports that at least some sea serpent stories have been explained.

I'm deeply offended...... :)




Hat Tip: Dinosaur Tom

KAIJU JELLYFISH...THE RETURN!!!!!

No that's not photoshop!
Story here.


The story is from about a year ago. It seems these big honkin' jellybums were causing trouble with the Japanese fishing fleet by eating their fish and fouling their nets.



(They last appeared like this in 1958. So obviously they are atomic mutant monsters caused by above ground nuke testing. :)