Posted on 12/22/2006 5:50:07 PM PST by jimtorr
December 22, 2006—Like pulling a shadow from the darkness, researchers in Japan have captured and filmed a live giant squid—likely for the first time—shedding new light on the famously elusive creatures.
Tsunemi Kubodera, a scientist with Japan's National Science Museum, caught the 24-foot (7-meter) animal earlier this month near the island of Chichijima, some 600 miles (960 kilometers) southeast of Tokyo (see Japan map).
His team snared the animal using a line baited with small squid and shot video of the russet-colored giant as it was hauled to the surface.
The squid, a young female, "put up quite a fight" as the team attempted to bring it aboard, Kudobera told the Associated Press, and the animal died from injuries sustained during the capture.
Giant squid, the world's largest invertebrates, are thought to reach sizes up to 60 feet (18 meters), but because they live at such great ocean depths they have never been studied in the wild.
Kubodera has spent three years searching for the creatures, and his team scored a coup in 2004 when it used a remote underwater camera to take the first-ever photographs of a live giant squid.
(See a gallery of the first photos taken of a live giant squid.)
The capture may be a sign that giant squid are more plentiful than had been thought, Kubodera said, and the event could help open up more fruitful research into the poorly understood animal.
"Now that we know where to find them, we think we can be more successful at studying them in the future," he said.
I think Chichijima was the island where the Japanese slaughtered our prisoners of war. George HW Bush was trying to bomb that island, if I recall.
Sushi anyone?
This 24 foot giant squid wouldn't pose a threat to a human swimmer. All you have to do is kick them in the nose.
I wonder how they taste deep fried with some marinara sauce. :)
Cool find.
Kind of cute, nice of them to kill it. I hope they at least ate it.
That eye is on the large size!
Why didn't they just video the poor creature in the ocean? Killed it for no reason. Cruel.
The initial photographing of a Giant Squid started a fascinating thread on FR a couple of years ago. It mutated into a discussion of the Humboldt Squid- which is apparently no fun to run in to in the water.
They put on a pretty pre-attack bioluminescent light show, though.
This is a giant squid!
I wonder how they taste deep fried with some marinara sauce. :)"
Just like Calamari would be my bet.
While the GS is certainly fascinating, I would not want to run into one of them. Yuck!
Didn't I see this on Doctor Who? Should have even at any rate.
That's called fishing.
Hmmm, fried calamari . . . .
I'm given to understand that the flesh of the Giant Squid reeks of ammonia.
Life is cruel. Build a bridge already.
Odd, because the Japanese are usually so precise in their portrayal of mutant organisms.
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