Freaky giant squids

Theres some pretty goddamn freaky testimony of giant squid attacks in this programme (interviews at 1:04 and 3:20):
www.youtube.com...


Picture of a baby one
[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/192f8f98c67d.jpg[/atsimg]


[edit on 02/10/08 by karl 12]

reply to post by karl 12


I have always loved the Giant Squid, what a case of a mythical beast actually being true, in fact I did a tin wiki article on it. The squid in the picture is a Colossal Squid (Mesonychoteuthis hamiltoni) that was captured off Antarctica, the Colossal Squid is about 3 feet larger on average than a giant. Although the Giant Squid( Architeuthis Dux) is longer, the colossal has much bigger girth and has claw like appendages on its' tentacles. Great post!

The squid was captured for the first time ever on film in 2005 by a Japanese Marine Biologist. Since then we've been seeing them alive a lot. Monster Quest (On History) saw a squid estimated to be 108 feet long in the Sea of Cortez off Mexico.

reply to post by jkrog08


There is so much more on this planet that we have yet to discover and the fact that we haven't even scratched the surface and are making discoveries practically every day is testament to this worlds treasuretrove of life.
Way to go Mother Earth. Another wonder found.

One day soon we actually might find inelligent life apart from the Dolphins.

reply to post by jkrog08


Jkrog,thanks for the reply -Mesonychoteuthis hamiltoni has certainly got some big ass tentacles:


[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/9fb17b168a8d.jpg[/atsimg]

Did you see the interview with Officer Carpenter describing the attack on the US Naval Ship Stein?
Sounds like a pretty big squid
www.youtube.com...
Cheers.

[edit on 02/10/08 by karl 12]

reply to post by DataWraith


DataWraith-couldn't agree more with your comments
Theres an interesting link here about unexplored ocean percentage:

An Unexplored Territory
More than 70 percent of the Earth's surface is covered by ocean, but to date,we've explored less than 5 percent of it.
Geophysicist Walter Smith, with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Laboratory for Satellite Altimetry clarified the situation that 90% of the ocean floor is unmapped;
"If you make an estimate using all the historical data in a place like South Pacific, and compare it to the United States at the same scale, it looks a bit like the interstate highway system," he explained.
"It's like sending surveyors out and saying that every few miles they can measure the height of the ground, but [they can] never leave the interstate highway system—then asking them to come back and make a map showing all the geographic features of the United States."

paradigmprobe.blogspot.com...

Suppose there could be anything swimming about down there:

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/8ba904af6ade.jpg[/atsimg]

When speaking about the “giant squid” you have to be specific. Most people mean Architeuthis, but the Mesonychoteuthis hamiltoni (or colossal squid) and the Humboldt squid, are also sometimes called giant squid.

Most large squid are benthic and abyssal creatures and rarely come near the surface (but do from time to time). But the Humboldt squid are commonly seen more inland, and actively attack people.

The truly terrifying thing about large squid is that unlike sharks (who usually bite people and let go), squid have a less refined appetite and will eat just about anything. There is really no telling how many people have been sucked down into the depths by a squid, never to return.

reply to post by NRA4ever333


frightening thought! never thought of that before. still a very amazing creature.

reply to post by karl 12


Where did you get that picture!

I like that one friend.

But yes the ocean is POORLY explored, and the abyssal depths are explored to only about 1%, and that is likely where any other large unknown creatures will reside for multiple reasons, Abyssal Gigantism being one.

Originally posted by NRA4ever333
The truly terrifying thing about large squid is that unlike sharks (who usually bite people and let go), squid have a less refined appetite and will eat just about anything. There is really no telling how many people have been sucked down into the depths by a squid, never to return.

I read an article some time ago and the author made an argument for giant squid being the primary cause of predation for sailors and airmen who went into the water during ww2.
after going over accounts of survivors he found that most of the attacks dont fit the profile of sharks.

He also found that in many cases sharks were never seen, and people were just pulled under and dissapeared.
That is a terrifying prospect.
THe mexican fishermen in the sea of cortez are more afraid of the humbolt squid than they are of the sharks.

reply to post by punkinworks09


Punkinworks09 -thats a pretty fascinating read
Don't know how true it is but theres a very interesting account from Lieutenant R E Grimani Cox about a giant squid attack during WW2.

Friend Witnessess sucker marks
(0:42):
www.youtube.com...

Incident:

The Kraken
But men have seen such creatures, and indeed been devoured by them. The exigencies of the Second World War took ships to waters round the globe which are otherwise seldom frequented. Lieutenants Rolandson, Davidson RN and Lieutenant R E Grimani Cox of the Indian Army, were caught by a German raider flying the Japanese flag in a remote part of the South Atlantic. After firing on the ship til she caught fire, the raider gave all aboard five minutes to take to the boats. The three officers found themselves left with a small raft and nine companions, taking turns to cling to the raft or sit upon it.
They were faced with all the traditional nightmares of the ship-wrecked; a burning sun, a terrible thirst, attacks from Portuguese men-of-war, which Lieutenant Cox said 'stung like a million bees', and then, on the third day, the sharks appeared to pick off the wounded and those who had gone mad with thirst. After three more days, the sharks suddenly disappeared - not a relief but a prelude to the most appalling moment of all. Slowly, beside the raft, a gigantic shape appeared with huge tentacles. For some time it seemed to stand off and contemplate its strategy. Then, deliberately, it reached out onto the raft and grabbed one of the Indian survivors 'hugging him like a bear'. Cox and the others made a futile attempt to tear the tentacles away, Cox himself suffering several sucker wounds, but the creature slowly took the Indian away. Apparently one man sufficed, for Cox and the two navy officers, picked up by a Spanish ship, lived to tell the tale.
Arthur C Clarke's Mysterious World (paperback, 1980 Fontana Press, London) p106-107.

Other links on giant squids:
www.unmuseum.org...
seawifs.gsfc.nasa.gov...
Cheers.

Don't forget the one Monster Quest got a short vid of one when they put a camera on a humbolt squid..

Monster Quest - Giant Squid

Originally posted by jkrog08
Where did you get that picture!

I like that one friend.

But yes the ocean is POORLY explored, and the abyssal depths are explored to only about 1%, and that is likely where any other large unknown creatures will reside for multiple reasons, Abyssal Gigantism being one.

Had that one for a while
Your right about the abyssal depths - God knows whats down there (some very strange USO reports coming from the Puerto Rico trench too).

Found some more good pics - you're not wrong about the giant squid
(be it Architeuthis or Mesonychoteuthis hamiltoni) being truly amazing animals

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/6de16bf14bbb.jpg[/atsimg]

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/bd6c843532e5.jpg[/atsimg]

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/bdbdc57e8230.jpg[/atsimg]
Cheers.

[edit on 02/10/08 by karl 12]

Dont whales go down to the most far reaching depths to go one on one and eat these things? you can see the battle scars on them.Anyway i agree these things are probably the legends of old,the monsters that people described...and no wonder!

Now squids is a topic I love. Care to guess why?

I love the fact they were considered myths for the longest time, then proven to be real.

Originally posted by Solomons
Dont whales go down to the most far reaching depths to go one on one and eat these things? you can see the battle scars on them.Anyway i agree these things are probably the legends of old,the monsters that people described...and no wonder!

Solomons theres an interesting account from this link:

A piece of sperm whale skin damaged by squid suckers in a life and death battle
[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/d1c23df839fe.jpg[/atsimg]

Giant Squid have been seen in battle with adult whales too. In 1965, a Soviet whaler watched a battle between a squid and a 40 ton sperm whale. In this case neither were victorious. The strangled whale was found floating in the sea with the squid's tentacles wrapped around the whale's throat. The squid's severed head was found in the whale's stomach.

Sperm whales eat squid and originally it had been thought that such battles were the result of a sperm whale taking on a squid that was just too large to be an easy meal. The incident with the Brunswick might suggest otherwise.

The Brunswick was a 15,000 ton auxiliary tanker owned by the Royal Norwegian Navy. In the 1930's it was attacked at least three times by giant squid. In each case the attack was deliberate as the squid would pull along side of the ship, pace it, then suddenly turn, run into the ship and wrap it's tentacles around the hull. The encounters were fatal for the squid. Since the animal was unable to get a good grip on the ship's steel surface, the animals slid off and fell into the ship's propellers.

Perhaps, for some unknown reason, the Brunswick looked like a whale to the squids. This might suggest that the sperm whale is not always the aggressor in the battles. In fact, though many sperm whales have been captured, few of their stomachs seemed to contain parts of giant squids (though smaller squids seem to provide a large portion of the sperm whale's diet).

www.unmuseum.org...
Cheers.

I did a Tinwiki article on the Kraken and the real creature behind it (Giant and Colossal Squid). I need to update the pictures on there though, the links don't work. In fact I might do that today.

Originally posted by Frogs
Don't forget the one Monster Quest got a short vid of one when they put a camera on a humbolt squid..

Monster Quest - Giant Squid

Frogs - great video
(on no account would you ever catch me down there. )

This is an interesting tale from WW2:

How big can a squid get? Estimates based on peices of carcasses found in the belly's of sperm whales range up to one hundred feet. One unconfirmed story, though, suggests they might get even larger. One night during World War II a British Admiralty trawler was lying off the Maldive Islands in the Indian Ocean. One of the crew, A. G. Starkey, was up on deck, alone, fishing, when he saw something in the water:

"As I gazed, fascinated, a circle of green light glowed in my area of illumination. This green unwinking orb I suddenly realized was an eye. The surface of the water undulated with some strange disturbance. Gradually I realized that I was gazing at almost point-black range at a huge squid." Starkey walked the length the of the ship finding the tail at one end and the tentacles at the other. The ship was over one hundred and seventy five feet long.

www.unmuseum.org...
Cheers.

reply to post by Frogs


Yea that one was estimated to be 108 feet long if Architeuthis. 60 if a "Giant Humboldt(not proven to exist)".

reply to post by karl 12


You ever hear of the "Bloop" sound?

reply to post by Tentickles


Tentickles -thought you'd enjoy the thread

Some nice giant tentacle pics:
www.tonmo.com...

[edit on 02/10/08 by karl 12]