Breaking the Squid Barrier

An anonymous reader writes "Dr. Steve O'Shea of Auckland, New Zealand is attempting to break the record for keeping deep sea squid alive in captivity, with the goal of being able to raise a giant squid one day. Right now, he's raising the broad squid, sepioteuthis australis, from egg masses found in seaweed. This is a lot harder than it sounds, because the squid he's studying grow rapidly and eat only live prey, making it hard for them to keep the squid from becoming prey themselves. If his research works out, you might one day be able to visit an aquarium and see giant squid."

Comments

Squidcam

[biryokumaru]

Well, until they have them at Coney Island, I'll just keep my eye on the squidcam. I wonder how long I can control it for...

Re:Squidcam

[Anonymous Coward]

To keep it awake at night?

Re:Squidcam

[sg_oneill]

Java also gives the web designer a more broader pallette of techniques for crashing the users browsers that work cross platform just as god intended.

Re:Squidcam

[Hal_Porter]

Saying Java is better because it works on all platforms is like saying anal sex is better because it works on all genders.

A simple plan

[Anonymous Coward]

1. Raise giant squid
2. ???
3. Profit!

I think #2 could easily be "open chain of squid restaurants" or "conquer the world"

Re:A simple plan

[biryokumaru]

pen chain of squid restaurants

Or sell the meat to an already popular franchise...

McCalamari? McSquid? No... I've got it!

McKraken!

Re:A simple plan

[$RANDOMLUSER]

"open chain of squid restaurants"

You know, in Japan, parents tell their children that chicken "tastes just like squid".

Re:A simple plan

[Talarohk]

One problem: giant squid flesh has a high concentration of ammonium ions, and so probably tastes like urine-soaked diapers.

Re:A simple plan

[interkin3tic]

1. Raise giant squid
2. ???
3. Profit!

I think #2 could easily be "open chain of squid restaurants" or "conquer the world"

You could also sell them as exotic pets to rich, stupid people.

A more legitimate use would be to prevent them from going extinct. They don't seem to be classified as endangered, but I'd guess that might have more to do with our ability to observe and count them than their actual likelyhood of going extinct.

What came to my mind first though was that giant squids might then be useful as model organisms for various studies. The giant axons of squids (regular sized squids, giant axons) were useful for first identifying the motor protein kinesin, and I've heard were also useful for early studies on neurons. Different animals may be particularly useful for doing research on, but if you can't keep them in a lab setting or catch many fresh, that really prevents that. Maybe the giant squid has some really interesting cellular process, we could study it, and learn something that will eventually cure cancer. Maybe not.

Re:A simple plan

[Ma8thew]

From Wikipedia:

Giant squid and some other large squid species maintain neutral buoyancy in seawater through an ammonium chloride solution which flows throughout their body and is lighter than seawater. This differs from the method of floatation used by fish, which involves a gas-filled swim bladder. The solution tastes somewhat like salmiakki and makes giant squid unattractive for general human consumption.

Meanwhile

[MichaelSmith]

Giant squid are trying to break the human barrier: to tes how long they can keep human beings alive at great depth. Currently the record stands at 120 seconds.

Re:Meanwhile

[Elky Elk]

That's part of the scientific exchange program, done on a squid pro quo basis.

Re:Meanwhile

[MichaelSmith]

done on a squid pro quo basis.

Aghhhh!

I am having a brain MRI tomorrow morning and if it shows abnormalities it is all your fault.

Re:Meanwhile

[Cyberax]

Do you know that MRI scanners use SQUIDs?

Seriously: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SQUID

Why does the caged squid sing?

[BadAnalogyGuy]

That isn't singing. Air is escaping from the squid's pores because there isn't enough atmospheric pressure at sea level to properly hold the colloidal structure together which makes it sound like the squid is singing.

Feeding is only one aspect of caring for giant squids.

Re:Why does the caged squid sing?

[Xest]

In fact, further to my other response to you, thinking about this, is it actually a problem? They're talking about raising from eggs I believe, so would an egg born squid suffer the problem if brought up entirely in a much lower pressure body of water?

Is the ability to only be able to cope with high pressure genetic, or is it merely a result of natural growth at that pressure?

Only live prey?

[nicknamenotavailable]

eat only live prey

So what do they plan to feed them once they become "giant" ?

chickens?
goats?
cows?

Just stand back from the pool, will ya?

Re:Only live prey?

[Alcohol Fueled]

When I hear "giant squid," I think of a... giant squid. Per Wikipedia: "Giant squid can grow to a tremendous size: recent estimates put the maximum size at 13 metres (43 ft) for females and 10 metres (33 ft) for males from caudal fin to the tip of the two long tentacles (second only to the colossal squid at an estimated 14 metres (46 ft), one of the largest living organisms)."

Easy headline to misread

[davidwr]

The first thing that came to my mind was proxying web servers.

The second thing was a row of squid (the living kind) being used as a barricade.

Re:Easy headline to misread

[niftyguy]

First thing that came to my mind was a new type of photon torpedo capable of penetrating the hull and shielding of a calamari cruiser.

Re:Easy headline to misread

[FiloEleven]

Silly me thought someone was going to attempt to learn their language--many species of squid use bio-luminescence to signal to each other in the depths, and the variety of patterns seen leads some scientists to believe that they have developed a rich visual language.

Re:Easy headline to misread

[outsider007]

That's ok, I thought it was about gays in the military.

Re:I don't think...

[sexconker]

I don't think giant squids were meant to live in captivity. Seems kind of cruel. But, oh well.

I don't think humans were meant to live in captivity, but here we fucking are. Wake up in a box, go to work in a different box, come home to the first box, repeat.

On weekends we to stay in the first box; Sometimes we come out, but typically our weekends are spent maintaining the box.

A captive squid is no more cruel than a captive cow or a captive cat or the fly buzzing around trying to go through your window.

cuttlefish are not quite squid...

[myc]

nonetheless, trying to raise giant squid may not be a good idea:

http://xkcd.com/520/

Re:cuttlefish are not quite squid...

[tkw954]

nonetheless, trying to raise giant squid may not be a good idea:

That's right, trying to raise a giant squid isn't a good idea, it's an awesome idea!

Re:Ob-Titans

[JackieBrown]

Sorry to reply to myself, but I would have been ok with it if they had kept the mechanical owl :)

Re:I don't think...

[timmarhy]

"meant to"? who sets those rules anyway. have you asked a squid if it likes it or not? maybe they fucking LOVE being in captivity, for all you know they hate having to swim about all day trying to find food with the threat of starvation ever present.

My dog wasn't meant to live inside either, but that doesn't stop him howling at the back door wanting to come in and jump all over the bed.