California Squidding

I found this article about jumbo squid this evening. California may be losing its human population, but it is gaining in its squid population. This will make me think twice about trying surfing when I am in Pasadena in June.

Pepsi Giant Squid Ad

Pepsi has a new ad for Pepsi MAX, and it features a giant squid attacking a swimmer. It is nice to see giant squid being used in pop culture.

A Squidmas Carol

On the first day of Christmas, 
my true love sent to me 
A squid in a pear tree. 

On the second day of Christmas, 
my true love sent to me 
Two turtle squid, 
And a squid in a pear tree. 

On the third day of Christmas, 
my true love sent to me 
Three French squid, 
Two turtle squid, 
And a squid in a pear tree. 

On the fourth day of Christmas, 
my true love sent to me 
Four calling squid, 
Three French squid, 
Two turtle squid, 
And a squid in a pear tree. 

On the fifth day of Christmas, 
my true love sent to me 
Five golden squid, 
Four calling squid, 
Three French squid, 
Two turtle squid, 
And a squid in a pear tree. 

On the sixth day of Christmas, 
my true love sent to me 
Six squid a-laying, 
Five golden squid, 
Four calling squid, 
Three French squid, 
Two turtle squid, 
And a squid in a pear tree. 

On the seventh day of Christmas, 
my true love sent to me 
Seven squid a-swimming, 
Six squid a-laying, 
Five golden squid, 
Four calling squid, 
Three French squid, 
Two turtle squid, 
And a squid in a pear tree. 

On the eighth day of Christmas, 
my true love sent to me 
Eight squid a-milking, 
Seven squid a-swimming, 
Six squid a-laying, 
Five golden squid, 
Four calling squid, 
Three French squid, 
Two turtle squid, 
And a squid in a pear tree. 

On the ninth day of Christmas, 
my true love sent to me 
Nine squid dancing, 
Eight squid a-milking, 
Seven squid a-swimming, 
Six squid a-laying, 
Five golden squid, 
Four calling squid, 
Three French squid, 
Two turtle squid, 
And a squid in a pear tree. 

On the tenth day of Christmas, 
my true love sent to me 
Ten squid a-leaping, 
Nine squid dancing, 
Eight squid a-milking, 
Seven squid a-swimming, 
Six squid a-laying, 
Five golden squid, 
Four calling squids, 
Three French squid, 
Two turtle squid, 
And a squid in a pear tree. 

On the eleventh day of Christmas, 
my true love sent to me 
Eleven squid piping, 
Ten squid a-leaping, 
Nine quids dancing, 
Eight quids a-milking, 
Seven squid a-swimming, 
Six squid a-laying, 
Five golden squid, 
Four calling squid, 
Three French squid, 
Two turtle squid, 
And a squid in a pear tree. 

On the twelfth day of Christmas, 
my true love sent to me 
Twelve squid drumming, 
Eleven squid piping, 
Ten squid a-leaping, 
Nine squid dancing, 
Eight squid a-milking, 
Seven squid a-swimming, 
Six squid a-laying, 
Five golden squid, 
Four calling squid, 
Three French squid, 
Two turtle squid, 
And a squid in a pear tree!

Video of a Giant Squid being Dissected

Here is an interesting video of scientists at Melbourne Museum in Australia dissecting a giant squid. This video is not for the squeamish, but if you do not mind seeing squishy internal organs flopping around, and various squid bodily fluids flowing, then it is a fascinating insight into how the anatomy of giant squid is studied. Unfortunately, I am a bit squeamish. I never liked the idea of dissecting things in high school, and for years I used to shoo flies out of the house instead of just swatting them (I have gotten over that now). Dissection was one of the things that kept me out of the biological sciences. It is partly responsible for me being an astronomer instead of a marine biologist. After seeing this video I do not regret my decision, even though it does mean that I will probably never get my name on a scientific paper about squid.

We Need a New Squid Book

There has not been much squid news over the past week or two, so I do not have much to write about tonight. I was down at my local library last night and I was a bit disappointed at the lack of material on cephalopods. Every book but one was aimed at children. The only book for grown-ups was Richard Ellis's The Search for the Giant Squid. This is not a bad book, but I read it long ago, and it is a bit dated. There have been some big breakthroughs in giant squid over the past couple of years. In particular, live giant squid have been filmed, Dr Steve O'Shea tried to rear larval giant squid in captivity, the existence of the colossal squid has been confirmed, and much has been learned about the behaviour of architeuthis dux. There is still a lot that we do not know, but I think that enough has happened recently that a new book on our favourite cephalopods is warranted. I wish that I had the time to write it.

The Big Fight

Here is a short video of a hypothetical battle between a sperm whale and a giant squid. One day, I hope that we will have film of the real thing.

Big Cuddly Squid

This is what I want for Christmas this year. It does cost $1800 however (the Web site does not say if that is Canadian dollars or not), which is a bit much, even for a hand-made giant squid.

Beware the Kraken from the Deep

Here is a nice article about squid and culture.

The Squid Shoppe

Just a quick note today because I am in a rush. Get your giant squid stuff at the Cryptozoology Shop.

One can never have enough squid stuff.

Whale Eats Squid

The Tenerife News the other day reported a story about a group of people who filmed a pilot whale eating a giant squid. The film is not available yet, but with luck it will show up on the InterNet before too long. The article says that this is the first time that such a feast has been caught on film. However, the good folk over at The Octopus News Magazine Online report that this is not actually the first film. They have a short, but interesting discussion of the film on their Web site.

This may not be the first actual footage of a whale snacking on Architeuthis dux, but they did get a nice picture, and their description is interesting. I hope that they release the film to the public soon. I wish that I had seen this when I was in the Canary Islands about ten years ago.

Proust and the Squid

It has been a slow week for squid news, so I thought that I would read something that is only tangentially related to cephalopods. The question this week is about reading. Proust and the Squid: the Story and Science of the Reading Brain by Maryanne Wolf examines the human tendency to read, and comes to some interesting conclusions. The basic argument of the book is that reading is not natural, and thus must be encouraged. With our society turning more and more digital, Wolf argues, reading becomes less and less important. Since reading is not instinctive our brains must rewire themselves to allow us to understand the printed word. It is an interesting book, although it is difficult to read, which struck me as a bit ironic. Personally, I am not worried that people are losing the ability to read. We will always need the printed word to tell us what is on tv.

Baby Giant Squid

A fisherman caught a juvenile giant squid off the coast of Florida a few days ago. This is not the first immature giant squid that has been caught. Dr Steve O'Shea tried to rear giant squid larvae a few years ago. His creatures did not live long enough to grow into mature giant squid, which is probably good considering the size of tank that would be needed to hold them. However, the Florida find represents the first giant squid caught that is beyond the larval stage. Scientists estimate that it was about six months old when caught.

A Day at the Beach

I just got back from two days at the beach with my children. We decided that, since I do not see enough of my children, we should make the most of our Summer together and drive to the beach for a couple of days. The time was mostly spent riding inner tubes in the ocean, watching my eldest daughter fearlessly leap into waves that were bigger than she is, and braving rides at the little fairground there. We also picked up some dresses for the girls. All in all, 'twas a great way to spend two hot Summer days, and a great excuse not to go to work.

Over the past two years I have been working on learning how to swim. Two and a half years ago I could barely swim from one side of a pool to the other--the short way. Now, I routinely do quarter-mile swims after work. On our little beach vacation I learned that I am now able to swim in the ocean when my feet can no longer touch the sand. My swimming has become strong enough that I can swim back to shore even when the undertow wants to drag me out and drown me like a kitten in a sack. To be realistic, it was not a strong undertow, but two years ago I would not have been willing to go in much above my knees. My transition from human to squid is proceeding ahead of schedule.