Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Calamari Anyone?

Posted by michael on from the deep-fried-and-breaded dept.

small but... writes "A six-meter long specimen of a species of squid [Mesonychoteuthis hamiltoni] previously only known by the stomach contents of sperm whales has been caught by a fishing vessel in Antarctic waters, and brought to the national museum of New Zealand. It has a huge beak, sharp swivelling hooks on its suckers, and is believed to be a juvenile. Adults of the species are thought to grow to as long as twelve meters. No reports indicate the presence of lasers; or, for that matter, anything I would consider a forehead."

6 of 33 comments (clear)

  1. Pictures by xWeston · · Score: 5, Informative

    There are pictures of it at these two stories

    Stuff.co.nz

    and

    BBC

  2. Actually, by Sevn · · Score: 2, Informative

    The full name of THIS
    squid is Mesonychoteuthis hamiltoni Robson. It's the
    only species in it's genus, and it barely gets 2m
    long. This doesn't even begin to touch Architeuthis
    Clarkei (the giant squid). This is perhaps a really
    lame attempt at an april fools joke?

    --
    For every annoying gentoo user, are three even more annoying anti-gentoo crybabies. Take Yosh from #Gimp for example.
    1. Re:Actually, by ASCIIMan · · Score: 2, Informative
      Actually, the mantle length refers to the length of the internal boney plate that cephalopods have. Six meters sounds about right for the body length of a squid with a two meter mantle. The squid's total length (including it's tentacles, but leaving out it's two arms), on the other hand, can probably reach 22 meters or so.

      Here's a nice picture for those of you needing a diagram.

  3. Re:There's few things as lame... by n9hmg · · Score: 4, Informative

    As an April's fool joke on April 2nd...
    I was getting ready to jab at Michael for posting a joke as real, but it appears that I'm the fool here. This thing exists, and it does have hooks. Google led me to the " Tree of Life Web project"
    1. Tentacles
    1. Club with hooks.
    ...
    Comments
    Hooks are also present on the arms. This is the only genus in the Cranchiidae with arm hooks.

    as well as several other articles. Bummer of a dateline, though.

  4. Adult giant squid still never photographed alive by selectspec · · Score: 2, Informative

    The article is misleading. This guy has filmed giant squid larva, but never an adult giant squid. Nobody has yet filmed an adult giant squid.

    --

    Someone you trust is one of us.

  5. Picies! by Scrameustache · · Score: 2, Informative

    Get your picies here!

    This link will take you to an article with a picture of the clawy tentacle.

    --

    You can't take the sky from me...