Has Anyone Ever Heard Of The Giant Squid?

[worrell4077]

Posted: 1/15/08 at 2:17pm

So last night while I was watching The Sarah Connor Chronicles, I was flipping around to see what else was on(not because I hated TSCC, but because I was interested to see what was on after. So, I'm looking at what's on Discovery and it said Giant Squid, to which I thought maybe it was something talking about a mythical creature that no one's seen.

I was wrong because I looked at the information on the show and it was about how Japanese researchers were able to photograph for the first time, the Giant Squid. I did not know this thing existed and the photos have been around for a couple of years and you can't tell by the photos but this thing is supposed to be huge.

They say it's roughly 25 ft long. The Squid was able to free itself but it left one of it's tentacles behind. I think that is really freaky that there is something like this living in the ocean.

All I can say is that I'm afraid to swim in the ocean now, especially near Japan.

Here are the photos:

[wexy]

Posted: 1/15/08 at 2:18pm

I had fried giant calamari with hot sauce. Very tasty.

[kelzama]

Posted: 1/15/08 at 2:20pm

What, so you think Jules Verne just made all that stuff up?

[Calvin]

Posted: 1/15/08 at 2:20pm

It was a pretty big story when they finally got the photo a few years ago (well, big story in science news terms).

But even before that, they were known to exist because they'd seen dead ones. The photograph was just the first time people had seen a live one.

The kraken lives!

[worrell4077]

Posted: 1/15/08 at 2:21pm

Am I the only one that didn't know these things existed? I had assumed they were myths and things out of science fiction, I never knew they actually existed.

[Jane2]

Posted: 1/15/08 at 2:25pm

I watch a lot of those nature/animal shows. That squid may be an especially large one, because I've seen a few shows on giant squids in general and they look just like the ones in the fish market, just huge! I love things like this-on tv, that is!

[wexy]

Posted: 1/15/08 at 2:40pm

I saw the story about the squid on one of the news shows.

[Jonny boy]

Posted: 1/15/08 at 2:44pm

I've seen shows on Discovery Channel that have talked about the Giant Squid

[Elphaba]

Posted: 1/15/08 at 2:49pm

yup, knew about when the first news stories aired.....

[Unknown User]

Posted: 1/15/08 at 2:50pm

Am I crazy or does this Giant Squid look a little like Sherrie Rene Scott?

[MisterRussell]

Posted: 1/15/08 at 2:55pm

Shoot, Worrell, what cave did you just emerge from?

[Jane2]

Posted: 1/15/08 at 3:11pm

[rosscoe(au)]

Posted: 1/15/08 at 5:27pm

A dead washed up on the east coast of Tasmania a few years ago, coming in around 30 feet long.

[defygravity2]

Posted: 1/15/08 at 7:53pm

Each year I dissect squid with my fifth graders, and this was HUGE news! A live squid had never been filmed before (though scientist had evidence of their existence). After almost 16 years of teaching a live one had never been spotted, I had to change my PowerPoint to include this news....most of my kids had seen the tv special, so it wasn't such big news to them. I was so excited to finally see one.

[Mamie]

Posted: 1/15/08 at 8:50pm

There've actually been quite a few dead ones found. This one is 55 feet long and was found in Newfoundland in 2001:

[Joshua488]

Posted: 1/15/08 at 10:54pm

Oh, yes. People have seen dead giant squid that washed ashore, but it wasn't until very recently (the photos that worrell posted) that a giant squid had been seen alive.

Ew, I had calamari at dinner today. I didn't like it. And this thread solidifies it.

[zooxanthellae]

Posted: 1/15/08 at 11:01pm

They actually discovered a species of squid larger than the giant squid recently: The Colossal Squid (no joke!)

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/02/070222-squid-pictures.html

[ElphieDefiesGravity]

Posted: 1/15/08 at 11:37pm

The giant squid is my favorite animal! It makes me want to be a marine biologist.

[Taryn]

Posted: 1/16/08 at 2:28am

Giant squids, no joke, scare the crap out of me. Something about the vulnerability of being in the water with something like that... But they're absolutely fascinating at the same time. But I think anything of that size and elusiveness would be.

[One Song Glory]

Posted: 1/16/08 at 6:25am

Well, giant squids are said to only live in the deepest of oceans, and I'm pretty sure that there hasn't been any confirmed case of a giant squid ever attacking a human before, so I don't think there's anything to worry about.

[Mamie]

Posted: 1/16/08 at 9:52am

Right. That's why they've only seen dead squids (up till now). The living animals live so deep in the ocean that we just don't cross paths with them.

[doodlenyc]

Posted: 1/16/08 at 10:14am

"Has Anyone Ever Heard Of The Giant Squid?"

I dated him in college.

[Liverpool]

Posted: 1/16/08 at 10:38am

doodle wins

[Mamie]

Posted: 1/16/08 at 10:48am

I thought that was the giant octopus?

[doodlenyc]

Posted: 1/16/08 at 10:48am

"doodle wins"

that's what I said in college!