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BALI, Indonesia -- More than 3,000 flying foxes dropped dead, falling from trees in Australia. Giant squid migrated north to commercial fishing grounds off California, gobbling anchovy and hake. Butterflies have gone extinct in the Alps. While humans debate at U.N. climate change talks in Bali, global warming is already wreaking havoc with nature. Most plants and animals are affected, and the change is occurring too quickly for them to evolve. "A hell of a lot of species are in big trouble," said Stephen E. Williams, the director of the Centre for Tropical Biodiversity & Climate Change at James Cook...

The DNA expert was troubled by the relationship between the squid's eye and various humans she had seen. Could a gene migrate across evolutionary lines? Thats was the basis for the PhD's manuscript.

MONTEREY, Calif. - Jumbo squid that can grow up to 7 feet long and weigh more than 110 pounds is invading central California waters and preying on local anchovy, hake and other commercial fish populations, according to a study published Tuesday. An aggressive predator, the Humboldt squid — or Dosidicus gigas — can change its eating habits to consume the food supply favored by tuna and sharks, its closest competitors, according to an article published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences journal. "Having a new, voracious predator set up shop here in California may be yet another...

The squid that washed up on an Australian beach weights 550 pounds and is 26 feet long from the tip of its body to the end of its tentacles.---AFP/Getty Images HOBART, Australia — A squid as long as a bus and weighing 550 pounds washed up on an Australian beach, officials said today."It is a whopper," said Genefor Walker-Smith, a zoologist who studies invertebrates at the Tasmanian Museum.Giant squid live in waters off southern Australia and New Zealand — where a half-ton colossus, believed to be the world's largest, was caught in February. They attract the sperm whales that...

Unknown Creature Caught Off Hawaii Biologists are studying what appears to be a never-before-seen life form described as a cross between a squid and a octopus, recently collected from a depth of over 3000 feet. "It's red, slimy, has probing tentacles, and hates the United States, we think it's possibly related to Nancy Pelosi," said researcher Frank Hauni. While it is a well-known fact Speaker of the House Pelosi (D-Calif) has vacationed in Hawaii many times, she has vigorously denied ever having a relationship with an invertebrate species. "I had an acquaintance who happened to be a squid in...

A squid-like creature, rescued from a Natural Energy Laboratory of Hawaii Authority deep water pipe filter, swims in a fish tank Wednesday at the facility As denizens of the deep go, it isn't very intimidating. But local scientists are nevertheless fascinated with the tentacled creature that was sucked up to the surface Tuesday by the 55-inch deep sea pipeline at the Natural Energy Laboratory of Hawaii Authority. "It's kind of an 'octosquid,'" said Jan War, operations manager at NELHA at Keahole Point. "It's got the body of a squid but the eight tentacles of an octopus." The foot-long "octosquid" was...

WELLINGTON, New Zealand - A colossal half-ton squid, believed to be the largest ever caught, may be destined for the microwave ove But researchers say they don't want to cook the massive creature ? just defrost it so they can study it better.

They're not quite sea monsters, but anglers here are landing squid nearly 6 feet long, far larger than a typical catch. One Newport Landing Sportfishing boat came back Saturday with a load of squid that averaged 30 pounds each, and 5 feet in length. A 4-pound squid is typical, but the largest in the catch weighed 50 pounds and was nearly 6 feet long. "People were getting wet and trying to avoid getting inked," said Newport Landing manager Steffanie Hillerstein. The boat was fishing the waters just south of Laguna Beach. Anglers, using 10-inch long lures, needed nearly 10 minutes...

New Zealand fishermen may have caught the largest Colossal squid ever found -- weighing around 450kg (992 pounds) and with rings the size of tires.The adult Colossal squid (Mesonychoteuthis hamiltoni) was caught by fishermen long lining for toothfish in deep ocean off Antarctica, New Zealand Fisheries Minister Jim Anderton said on Thursday in announcing the catch.The squid was still alive when caught and was eating a hooked toothfish when hauled aboard, Anderton said in a statement."The squid was almost dead when it reached the surface, and the careful work of the crew was paramount in getting this specimen aboard in...

An adult specimen of the world’s largest known squid was hauled to the surface by a New Zealand longliner fishing for toothfish in Antarctic waters. The creature, known as a colossal squid (Mesonychoteuthis hamiltoni) and with eyes the size of a car tire weighed an estimated 450 kilograms. The squid was eating a hooked toothfish when it was hauled from the deep by the vessel San Aspiring. "It is likely that it is the first intact adult male colossal squid to ever be successfully landed," Fisheries Minister Jim Anderton said today. "The scientific community will be very interested in this...

Colossal squid hooked with rings the size of tractor tyres   February 22, 2007 - 3:30PM     New Zealand fishermen in the Ross Sea have caught what's thought to be the largest squid ever found.Its estimated weight is about 450 kilograms.The species is known as the colossal squid, shorter but much heavier than the better known giant squid.It was hauled to the surface while munching on one of its favourite foods, a Patagonian toothfish which the fishermen had hooked on a longline.Dr Steve O'Shea, from the Auckland University of Technology, says the previous largest find weighed 300 kilograms.He...

In the summer of 2004, Beth and Ken Cone boarded their Sundeer 60 Eagles Wings in their home port of Waukegan, Illinois, sailed across the Great Lakes and out the St. Lawrence Seaway, and have been cruising the world ever since. The latest post on their website, Vancones.org, concerns an episode of underbody sabotage attributed to one of the most mysterious creatures of the deep, the giant squid. While visiting Papeete, Tahiti, the Cones met up with their old cruising pal, Shigeo Kitano, whose progress on a recent passage from the Galopagos to the Marquesas had been impeded by an...

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"...

October 5, 2006 Washington D.C. Oh man, the Republicans have caught fire and are spiraling to earth in a cloud of smoke and desperation. Good. Congressman Mark Foley, honorable pervert representing the great state of horniness, was caught sending nasty instant messages to a minor male page. It seems that this member of the Moral Majority was actually a flaming homo, hell-bent on perverted hot monkey sex with as many males as possible, especially young ones. Disgusting. It's hard to believe this party keeps trying to quash gay marriage when they're all gay themselves. What sense does this make? I'm...

SANTA BARBARA (AP) - A tentacle and two arms of a giant squid about 20 feet long were snagged by a sport fisherman off Santa Cruz Island. "We just saw something odd floating. We were just kind of stunned, but I saw it and thought, 'We better bring this thing in,'" said Bennett Salvay. The squid parts were found by Salvay, his son and nephew about eight miles off the island on Aug. 11. Salvay, who lives in the Los Angeles suburb of Tarzana, said they grabbed and pulled at it and it kept "coming and coming.... We kind of...

fisherman snags a rare catch in the Santa Barbara Channel, a tentacle belonging to a giant squid. The 13-foot-long tentacle was found floating near Santa Cruz Island last week. Little is known about the species, it is only the fourth confirmed specimen ever found in Southern California. "They are definitely present off our coast, they are probably not very common here and they probably live in deep water, this one here was caught near the Santa Cruz Basin, which is several thousand feet deep," said Eric Hochberg, Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History Curator. The tentacle likely surfaced after the...

Giant squid on display at museum One of the world's best specimens of the giant squid Architeuthis dux has gone on display at The Natural History Museum in London. The colossal cephalopod was caught by a trawler off the Falkland Islands and is about 8.62 metres/28 ft in length. The species can reach a maximum size of up to 13m - five metres longer than a double decker bus. Researchers at the museum have managed to successfully preserve the squid and fit it inside an enormous 10m/30' long display case. Jon Ablett, curator of molluscs in the Museum's Department of...

Argentina 'arrests' British squid trawler Oliver Balch in Buenos Aires (Filed: 26/02/2006) Argentina has impounded a British trawler in a dramatic escalation of a dispute over squid fishing rights off the Falkland Islands, raising tensions between the two countries. The high seas "arrest" of the trawler last week follows a low-level "squid war" that has been waged amid allegations of over-fishing and infringements of sovereignty. Argentina claims that the John Cheek was illegally fishing in the Argentine economic exclusion zone last Monday. The British Embassy in Buenos Aires, however, believes that the trawler, now under Argentine coastguard control at the...

LONDON (Reuters) - Japanese scientists have taken the first photographs of one of the most mysterious creatures in the deep ocean -- the giant squid. Until now the only information about the behavior of the creatures which measure up to 18 meters (59 feet) in length has been based on dead or dying squid washed up on shore or captured in commercial fishing nets. But Tsunemi Kubodera, of the National Science Museum, and Kyoichi Mori of the Ogasawara Whale Watching Association, both in Tokyo have captured the first images of Architeuthis attacking bait 900 meters (yards) below the surface in...