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Deep Sea Monster Baffles Scientists
sbszine writes "The Sydney Morning Herald has a report of a bizarre sea creature that has washed up on the coast of Chile. The creature is grey, lumpy, and the size of a school bus. Scientists have ruled out the possibility that it may be a whale -- the creature is an invertebrate, and perhaps even a new species."
'And wow! Hey! What's this thing coming towards me very fast? Very very fast. So big and flat and round, it needs a big wide sounding word like... ow... ound... round... ground! That's it! That's a good name -- ground! I wonder if it will be friends with me?'
ref
I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhauser gate.
Maybe someone has seen something like this before. Are there any pics of it?
Many eyes make all oceans shallow.
I have been pwned because my
.. if it doesn't have frikin' laserguns on it's head?!
They finally found him!
Maybe my keys are in it! I have looked everywhere for them. :-/
One future, two choices. Oppose them or let them destroy us.
Photographs showed a round leathery substance like a mammoth jelly fish, about as long as a school bus.
So show us the above mentioned photographs already! What the fuck kind of tease is this?
GMD
watch this
I wonder how many new species we will see before and after the earth slides into an ice age?
Reminds me of a certain SouthPark episode, involving a Trapper Keeper.......
... Children, there's some huge bulbous monstrosity heading for the classroom! ...
Mr Garrison:
Rosie O'Donnell: Hello, kids!
Maybe she went swimming and drown?
10b||~10b -- aah, what a question!
Squids have a hard beak inside, just like octopi. If the carcass is complete, figuring out if it is a squid should be easy, no matter how decomposed it is...
Haven't been able to find a picture on the mentioned article, but I did find this. It mentions that twice strange "blobs" have washed up on shore and this one was only a few years ago.
e r. html
http://www.mysterymag.com/html/tasmanian_blobst
where am i
found one of Cowboy Neal's ancestors!
(Presumably) being a sea creature, wouldn't bouyancy make supporting a large body mass something of a non-issue? A big bag of muscle can get around pretty good in a basically 0-gravity environment. (Giant squid!)
:P but like most everyone else, I'd like some pics.
Not to say that it's not an interesting find.
=Smidge=
I mean, come on, how can we discuss this without knowing what it looks like?
"Times have not become more violent. They have just become more televised."
-Marilyn Manson
It's Saddam's long lost WMDs..
(biological division of course)
And they found it near a dead whale...
giant squid and whales are known to attack each other. (evidenced by sucker marks found on dead whales, etc.)
Nothing to see here; Move along.
http://www.antarctica.ac.uk/News_and_Information/P ress_Releases/2000/20000630.html
Link to some good pics of giant squid. mmm sushi..
where am i
The CCC's website (referenced in the article) has found a large beached whale recently. Perhaps the article confused this beached whale (which the article may speculate on the species? My spanish == bad, My spanish via babel == only slightly better) There is a picture, but it is clearly a whale.
-Sean
Obviously, this is the remains of a slashtroll.
Consider: Large. Smelly. Spineless. Gray.
A slashtroll ventured away from his keyboard under the bridge, and went to the beach, perhaps in search of a mate. It was caught by the sunlight (which it was completely unprepared for) and killed.
So, all we need is for some sick^Wstupid^Wbrave person to volunteer to visit the depths of -1 and see what trolls have stopped posting.
I'd volunteer, but I just don't care.
www.eFax.com are spammers
Yeah, I was thinking that the whale probably ate it, maybe even died from it, and thats the reason it's so hard to ID.
"Formless protoplasm able to mock and reflect all forms and organs and processes - viscous agglutinations of bubbling cells -- rubbery fifteen-foot spheroids infinately plastic and ductile -- slaves of suggestion, builders of cities -- more and more sullen, more and more intelligent, more and more amphibious, more and more imitative! Great God! What madness made even those blasphemous Old Ones willing to use [...] such things?
"At the Mountains of Madness", by H. P. Lovecraft
I'm waiting for the next slashdot story: "Decapitated, Slime-Covered Body of Researcher Found!"
At least they didn't put a cache of explosives under it and try to get rid of it by detonating it.
Lasers Controlled Games!
It's already decaying, shouldn't they maybe, you know, find out what it is before it disintegrates into foul-smelling mush?
Good point, I think that we don't know enough about the ocean to be using such high powered sonar. For all we know, we could end up killing off an entire new species...
In linux libertas
Must be an insect or two that does it.
The dead creature was mistaken for a beached whale when first reported about a week ago, but experts who went to see it said the 12-metre mass of decomposing lumpy grey flesh apparently was an invertebrate.
In other news, Darl McBride doesn't know what it is either, but has confirmed that SCO will sue it.
McBride alleged that being an "[nvertebrate] mass of decomposing lumpy grey flesh" is a business process patent owned exclusively by, and licensed exclusively to, SCO, and that therefore the sea monster is infringing SCO's IP.
Opinions on the Twiddler2 hand-held keyboard?
Yep, the Oregon State Highway Division already tried that, and it didn't work!
"The Chilean Navy first spotted the mystery specimen along with another large mass, but the other dead animal turned out to be a dead humpback whale."
I thought it was well known that humpback whales and giant squid were mortal enemies... I'd say these two had an all out battle and both died as a result.
Well that's my theory, I'm stickin' to it.
A fool throws a stone into a well and a thousand sages can not remove it.
CTHULU
CTHULU
Cthulu
Cthulu
Cthulu
Cthulu
The Singularity is closer than you think
Quant
This sounds awfully similar to the colossal squid that was found a few months back. The article with pics is at http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/2910849. stm
Come on, you knew that eventually someone would film the blowing up of a whale. If for nothing else, the wanted to get on "When Whales Explode" or whatever it was on FOX.
2*31*37*263
Coastguard reported a dead humpback floating near it, before it ashed ashore. These toothed whales often engage in battle with giant squids, Squids being very yummy for those whales, although fierce combatants, and big to boost! Looks like both parties didn't survive the clash. Should explain the missing tentacles.
The creature is grey, lumpy, and the size of a school bus.
Jimmy Hoffa! I knew he'd be found!
The U.S. Navy is testing a new high-powered sonar system. Perhaps it is killing ocean animals whose existence we are (previously) unaware of?
Do invertebrates have ears? I don't know the answer, but I do know quite a good deal about the U.S. Navy's sonar program (called SURTASS or sometimes SURTASS LFA) as I just spent the past week researching it for a debate tournament.
SURTASS LFA (Surveillance Towed Array Sensor System, Low Frequency Active) sends out sonar pings to search for mines, submarines, and the like at around 180 dB, though it can get louder or quieter than that. It does indeed cause severe damage to marine life, particularly whales and dolphins, who communicate with sonar and therefore are susceptible to this type of sonar. It causes severe acoustic trauma and sometimes bleeding around the ears and even death. It is also known to cause strandings of whales...
The reason I bring this up is that if any sea creature doesn't have ears/can't hear sound/whatever, they are immune to this type of sonar. However, if they do have ears, they can be quite vulnerable to it. Do any invertebrates have ears? Do squid? This could be related.
Oops!
There are photos available on the CNN site:e .science.reut/index.html
"Giant sea creature baffles Chilean scientists"
http://www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/americas/07/02/chil
Unless someone has already posted
The Blob!
True warriors use the Klingon Google
I wonder how many new species we will see before and after the earth slides into an ice age?
I don't think you, me or we are going to see many new species before or after.
What others will see are your, mine and our dead corpses.
And they will see it long before the end of any ice age.
Remember that old joke about what do you call a million lawyers at the bottom of the sea? (the answer is: a good start).
Well.. they're back!
Um, those would be SPERM whales that eat giant squid, not Humpback whales. Please remember not to confuse "Sperm" and "Hump Back". It could be embarrasing in other circumstances...
Who is naming these whales anyway, Ron Jeremy?
Sperm whales deep-dive after giant squid. Baleen whales eat krill and other *small* ocean invertebrates. The dead humpback found near the "mass" is a baleen whale.
I tried every decent and legal way I could think of to resolve the issue w/the business before I rented the chicken suit
It's the source code for Internet Explorer
The only "photos" you'll see are in advertisements.
"I'm so moist I'm sticking to the leather." -Kermit the Frog on The Late Late Show
This pic of the thing doesn't show it all, but it definitely looks big and like it would smell bad.
Frogs are primitive animals - so the occasional extra toe is not that unusual. But this is very unusual.
The thing that intrigues me is that there are people who have expertise in the area of texture and smell of decomposing whale skin. Is there a professional society for these people?
Anyway, sounds neat, and I'm sure they can figure out if it is a whale by doing a little PCR and sequencing. (I think this is my answer to most science questions these days)
I dont know about squid/octopuses per say...but most marine animals have an ability to sense sound. Fish, for example, have a lateral line running down their sides for this purpose. Its not sonar, but its useful for figuring out if something is moving near you.
I have no idea wether these systems would be impacted by this sonar.
anyone else remember reading about underwater microphones picking up a sound that is unidentified by marine biologists? Apparently the sound is so loud they had to check for geology explanations such as volcanoes or earthquakes. Marine biologists claim that the giant squid could not make the noise because it lacks a throat or something similar. So... they have a rare recording they think came from a living creature so large that no one knows what it is! Makes you think about what lurks in the deep ocean....
pot.kettle(black);
Link. Only two of them.
Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
Giant sea creature baffles Chilean scientists
looks like a jellyfish
Another article. Text is from an article on msnbc.
... the rotted, separated skin of a blue, Sei or fin whale could easily be this size."
SANTIAGO, Chile, July 2 -- A huge, gelatinous sea creature found washed up on Chile's coast has stumped scientists, who have sent samples to a specialist in France for help in identifying the mystery specimen. The dead creature was mistaken for a beached whale when first reported last week, but experts who went to see it said the 40-foot-long mass of decomposing lumpy gray flesh apparently was an invertebrate.
"WE'D NEVER before seen such a strange specimen, we don't know if it might be a giant octopus that is missing some of its parts or maybe it's a new species," said Elsa Cabrera, director of the Center for Cetacean Conservation in Santiago.
The round substance looks like a mammoth jelly fish and is about as long as a school bus.
Giant octopus live at a depth of up to 9,500 feet and only rise to the surface when they die. Specimens have been known to be as long as 30 feet.
WHALE SKIN?
There was speculation that the mass might be a whale skin, but Cabrera said it was too big and did not have the right texture or smell.
Steve Webster, senior marine biologist at the Monterey Bay Aquarium in California, wasn't ready to rule that out, at least based on the photo and limited information he has read.
If the texture is leathery, he said, "I would opt more for whale skin
"In addition," he said, "at least 50 percent to 80 percent of the length of a giant squid or octopus is arms and tentacles, not the body. From what I can see in the picture, this is one big mass of tissue, and is not divided into what might be arms or tentacles."
The Chilean Navy first spotted the mystery specimen along with another large mass near Puerto Montt, in southern Chile, but the other dead animal turned out to be a humpback whale.
GIANT OCTOPUS OR PLANKTON?
Cabrera's group sent samples to French specialist Michel Raynal. The center contacted him and his initial impression was that it is a giant octopus, Cabrera told MSNBC.com.
A review of literature found only one other giant octopus of a similar shape and size, Cabrera said, a specimen found on a Florida beach in 1896.
Cabrera noted the Chilean specimen is bigger than what was found in 1896, measuring about 40 feet long, 18 feet wide, and three feet high at its highest point.
Webster raised the possibility that if the blob is gelatinous, and not particularly tough and leathery, then it could be what's known as a pyrosome -- a colony of millions of plankton that can grow to up to 60 feet long.
He said that genetic analysis of the tissue should reveal some clues to identify the specimen.
"If this were just the head and body of a squid or octopus," he added, "then it appears to be far larger than any such critter known to date."
I love deadlines. I like the "whoosh" sound they make as they fly by. -- Douglas Adams
Settle down. Have yourself a bowl of grits and let's watch some old Yakov Smirnov tapes.
Well first of all, I should probably mention to everyone that I've never done debate before. I'm in high school and still learning the ropes. But SURTASS has a range of 300 miles. The Navy claims that at one kilometer away, the impact of SURTASS on marine life is negligible. However this is assuming that they'll see any whales/dolphins/etc. from 1km away and be cautious with their sonar.
Oops!
High decibel noise can cause a concussive force powerful enough to damage tissue - possibly enough to kill.
How high of a decibel does it have to be to cause damage? Furthermore, animals with ears are more susceptible to this type of sonar. I didn't mean to say that animals without ears are necessarily immune to it.
Oops!
Ah the differences between PCP and PCR ...
I don't think drugs have changed all that much since I was in college. In the 60s my college was the acid distributor for the East Coast. I was there in the early 90s and there were still a suspiciously large number of chemistry majors.
...if Chile will call the Oregon Department of Transportation to remove this giant thing from the shore?
http://www.accountkiller.com/removal-requested
Reuters has finally put up some pictures.
You've all been waiting for this, but of course in a photo it just looks like a big gray blob.
Ever wonder what happens to all that fat from those liposuction surgeries? Looks like it ended up on the coast of Chile.
!@#$% whole-grain cereal. When I want fiber, I eat some wicker furniture. - G. Carlin
http://wwwi.reuters.com/images/mdf309627.jpg
now i can't imagine why any newspaper would be hesitant to post that picture. goate.cx part 2?...
This is actually the best way to dispose of a whale carcass. Fish, crabs etc. will quickly dispose of a million whale morsels; one big chunk of whale will take weeks of nibbling, and in the meantime stinks to high heaven. The trick is to detonate the explosives from outside of the fallout zone...
AP photo
Reuters photo
right here.
Enjoy.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/030 702/168/4kihz.html
"It's so convenient to have a system where everyone is a criminal" - A. Hitler
Of course they had to send it to a French lab, it also being an invertebrate.
In the wild there are no dumb lions tigers or bears. Only humanity subsidizes the continued existence of the stupid.
A similar finding occured in Florida in the late 17 century. Back then (like today), people could not decide if it was a whale or an octopus. You can take a look at some pics here
My other OS is the MCP!
http://www.msnbc.com/news/933992.asp?vts=070220031 435
Are we saying the whale got washed up, all decomposed, with bits of the huge giant something poking out?
Eew.
Politics is derived from two words - poly, meaning many, and tics, meaning small blood-sucking insects.
This is the iligitimate father of most of my extended family....