Oil Exploration Leads To Video of a Mysterious Elbowed Squid

eldavojohn writes "A rare glimpse from Shell Oil of a giant squid brings to light the strange relationships some deep sea marine biologists have with drilling companies. The video of the squid (Magnapinna) is very rare as this creature remains largely a mystery to science. While some are concerned of a conflict of interest, biologists and big oil sure make for strange bedfellows. The video is from 200 miles off the coast of Houston, TX and about 4,000 feet down." Looking at this creature gives me the willies, frankly.

Comments

Re:Nice animal

[lysergic.acid]

yea, that video gave me the chills. at first it looked sorta like the alien from Independence Day, but about 100 times creepier. but once i actually understood what i was seeing, i was just in awe at the beauty of such a bizarre living creature. these kinds of discoveries just emphasize the reason we need to support ecological conservation all the more. imagine all of the millions of other bizarre and beautiful creatures out there still unknown to science.

for those who are interested in other video clips of Magnapinnidae, here's a page with several short clips and screen captures. most of them are poor quality, as they seem to be VHS-rips, but the 6th and 8th clips are pretty amazing.

Re:Really?

[RockDoctor]

Why would it threaten drilling rights? Unless the fish are living in the rock what's the problem?

Three things occur to me : (in decreasing order, probably) drilling mud coating the surface of rock cuttings discharged over the side ; unstable and/ or soluble minerals as part of the rock cuttings themselves ; heat from the cuttings. If you're using oil-based mud (technically, invert emulsion drilling fluid with a low-dielectric continuous phase and a high-dielectric discontinuous phase ; the chemical nature of the continuous phase is varied but it is universally some degree of bad news for any skin it encounters ; I've got the chemical burns to prove it.) then it's unsurprising that dumping tons of it onto the seabed can cause problems in the surrounding areas. Less obviously, throwing tons of rock salt or anhydrite or unstable clay minerals has potential to do various degrees of nasty to water chemistry. There's also the other additives in the mud to consider - barytes is often associated with lead mineralisation, for example, raising the possibility of other forms of pollution. Finally, the rocks that come up from drilling are generally hot to some degree, and while the sea does have significant cooling power, when many tons are dumped into the sea in short order, it's within the bounds of credibility to change temperatures for a while, particularly within the seabed.

All of which is why discharge of cuttings coated with "oil" (natural or synthetic) is now forbidden in a number of areas. Which simply prompted the development of a range of "skip'n'ship" solutions which are loathed by drillers, but allow drilling to continue to use oil-based muds.

Well, you did ask!