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Giant Squid Washed Ashore in Australia

Posted by Zonk on from the don't-try-to-make-calamari dept.

twofish writes "Yahoo News is reporting that the carcass of a giant squid, nearly 8 meters in length, washed ashore in Australia on Wednesday. The creature's mantle is over two meters in length and almost a full meter across. The creature, stretched out, is in total more than eight meters long. 'Scientists would take samples from the creature, identified by state parks officials as an Architeuthis, which can grow to more than 10 meters (33 feet) in length and weigh more than 275 kilograms (606 pounds). The Tasmanian animal was 250 kg ... Giant squid, once believed to be mythical despite occasional sightings by mariners, feed on fish and other squid. Last year, fishermen off the Falkland Islands caught a complete animal measuring 8.62 meters.'"

4 of 149 comments (clear)

  1. Stick by Eudial · · Score: 5, Funny

    Poke it with a stick! Poke it with a stick! I dare you to poke it with a stick!

    --
    GAAH! MY PRINTER IS ON FIRE!!! PUT IT OUT! PUT IT OUT!
  2. Translation for Linux fanbois by tttonyyy · · Score: 5, Funny

    A proxy with a memory leak has segfaulted at Australia's ioctl interface.

    Debuggers are taking core samples for analysis.

    --
    biopowered.co.uk - catalytically cracking triglycerides for home automotive use since 2008. Just say no to big oil!
  3. Delicacy to Cleaning agent by American+Scum · · Score: 5, Interesting

    http://seawifs.gsfc.nasa.gov/OCEAN_PLANET/HTML/squ id_highlights.html "When a giant squid washes ashore, Roper hurries to the site. He takes many photographs and measures the length and width of the squid's body the length of the tentacles and arms, and the width of the eyes. He will add the information to his collection of clues. One clue was discovered at a party when Roper and two other scientists cooked a piece of giant squid. They expected a giant delicacy But it was awful. The taste reminded them of ammonia, a strong-smelling substance. They tested the tissue and found a lot of ammonia. They think that ammonia makes the giant squid less dense than seawater, so it won't sink. It can easily stay at a good level for finding food without constantly swimming and wasting its energy "

  4. Re:So many lately by Choad+Namath · · Score: 5, Informative
    From Wikipedia:

    Many scientists who have studied squid mass strandings believe that they are cyclical and predictable, but the length of time between strandings is not yet known. A period of 90 years between mass strandings has been proposed by Frederick Aldrich, an Architeuthis specialist, who used this value to correctly predict a relatively small stranding that occurred between 1964 and 1966. By and large, however, squid strandings remain a yet unsolved problem. It is strange, but it doesn't seem to be a new phenomenon.