Shell Perdido Oil Platform Creature

Looks to be like some sort of squid, except it is oriented in an unusual way, and its true scale can not be determined from the video.

vids.myspace.com...

Not on Youtube or Google video yet.

Anybody have any insight as to what this creature could be?

Thats some Teenager from Greenpeace holding a rubber toy in front of the vidcam to freak them out...


Seriously, that's some pretty cool footage, never seen anything quite like it, could be a giant squid... looks creepingly intelligent

What bothers me is that there is no further information about the video. The only source of it seems to be this MySpace video - even though the video is nearly a year old (according to the "date stamp")...? Where did this guy get the video? Why are there NO other references on the web to the video?

All that said, it looks pretty realistic... Isn't an in-your-face fake... Still I' would have to hold on to my vote until I can find some more info on the source of the video.

Now that I think about it, it looks a little like the Cloverfield monster. Perhaps this is some sort of unreleased viral advertising, or an unreleased scene?

Definately real. There's actually some much better footage of the same creature in one of those "OMG-alien-space-creatures-everywhere!!!"-kind of films, you often see on YouTube. I'll see if I can find it.

Edit: Yeah, knew I had seen it before. Although not footage, there is a very clear picture of the being in the video posted in this thread.

[edit on 8/7/08 by Thain Esh Kelch]

Here from the BBC:
'Mystery' squid delights scientists
Neat video though.

Edit:
Multiple other video’s are here as well:
New Gigantic Squid Spotted Worldwide


[edit on 7/8/2008 by defcon5]

Mod edit: Fixed BBC link

[edit on 8-7-2008 by Gemwolf]

Wow! That is well cool! It moves really different to a normal squid. I wonder if it's been properly identified yet.....

Oh, neat! It looks like a baby kraken with beautiful wings.

Good find! I hadn't seen this yet. Interesting to me the way it moves.... with the upper section of the "tentacles" kind of stiff, reminiscent of a spider. Agree with previous poster also..... I've seen many small squids at night, and their movements are quite different. The way this creature moved it's upper body (or at least "upper" in relation to the video) reminds me of a Manta Ray. Mantaspider Squid. ha

Could anyone post a screenshot or picture - I am don't have the bandwidth to view videos. I love mysterious beasties.
thanks...

truth stranger than fiction!
no-one could come up with a creature like that even if they were on hallucinogens imho
beautiful in part like a Manta ray, scary the rest of the way like a spider
more reason to save the oceans!

It's a 'Bigfin' or 'Magnapinnidae' squid.

The bigfin squids are a group of rarely seen cephalopods with a very distinctive morphology. They are placed in the genus Magnapinna and family Magnapinnidae. The family is known only from larval, paralarval, and juvenile specimens, but some authorities believe the adult creature has been seen: Several videos have been taken of animals nicknamed the "long-arm squid", which appear to have a similar morphology. Since none of the adult specimens have ever been captured or sampled, it remains uncertain if they are the same genus, or only distant relatives.

en.wikipedia.org...



www.mnh.si.edu...

Freaky how their tentacles bend at right angles.

[edit on 8-7-2008 by Xeros]

Excellent!

Always something new to learn.

I've watched pretty much all the videos from all the links provided (This one by Xeros is outstanding!) but I just can't find a connection with the "Shell Perdido Oil Platform"...? (Thus no results for my searches. ) I wonder what exactly is the source of the video? Anyone got a linky link to another site that's possibly hosting the video?

i watched some special on discover science or something a while back about deep see life. was truly one of the most amazing things i had ever seen. we barely know anything about what life lives in the oceans. incredibly fascinating stuff. at first i wondered if this might be some kind of aquatic arachnid, but it has more than 8 legs...cool stuff tho!

I managed to find it on Youtube. So I'll embed it. It's dated April 16th.



There's also a worse qualty vid dated today, but still no background on the connection with the Shell platform.

[edit on 8-7-2008 by Xeros]

Originally posted by Gemwolf
I just can't find a connection with the "Shell Perdido Oil Platform"...? (Thus no results for my searches.

) I wonder what exactly is the source of the video? Anyone got a linky link to another site that's possibly hosting the video?

Well I just found another duplicate of the vid, on youtube and dated a week ago, which provides some info:-

www.youtube.com...

This is Aaron Gregory, singer/guitarist of the band Giant Squid. I also work at the AQUARIUM OF THE BAY in San Francisco as a profesional diver. Today (6-27-08) a man who has been installing video equipment at the aquarium for the last several days, come into our husbandry office and asked if we could identify a "creature" that his friend, who works on an oil rig, caught on tape from an ROV. He described a ray like thing with 30ft tentacles!! He wasn't far off as you can see for your self. It doesn't get much more alien than this. I just identified it as belonging to the species Magnapinna, or Big Fin squid, though this one is more commonly known as the Long Arm Squid. They get as big as 5 meters! Take special note of the depth! 7828ft. Enjoy everyone!!

Ah, sweet closure. Thank you all for the wonderful speculation and research. I guess we also have a estimate of the scale too - 30 feet, as described in that article.

What a strange and beautiful creature.

At first glance, it looked HUGE!

But even with that 30ft estimate, I still think it doesn't look too big. Even if its tentacles are ridiculously long in comparison to its body!

Nice find though.

reply to post by Xeros


AWESOME!!!! Im not swimming ever again though!!!!!

""There's almost nothing down there we can't do," he says, "and we see all sorts of cool stuff." Later, as he raises the ROV to the surface, he plays back video he's shot of huge rays ghosting through the deep and a squid dangling long pink tentacles."

eighth paragraph.

www.popularmechanics.com...