Comments on: The Blob!

The Blob!

klaatu — Wed, 02 Jul 2003 14:42:54 -0800

Unidentified marine blob stages first beach landing assault of unidentified marine blob species! Can't survive in air! Dies. I for one welcome our new blob... Aw, sorry, guys, it's a reflex.

By: anastasiav

anastasiav — Wed, 02 Jul 2003 14:52:14 -0800

I'm pretty sure its a beached squid. Or God's Lugie. Or Something. (but why would God want to spit on Chile, right?)

By: magikeye

magikeye — Wed, 02 Jul 2003 14:52:22 -0800

that's the biggest mound of crap i've ever seen!

By: mathis23

mathis23 — Wed, 02 Jul 2003 14:55:19 -0800

God, you can probably smell that thing from Europe.

By: signal

signal — Wed, 02 Jul 2003 14:55:34 -0800

More info in a chilean newspaper. They're calling it a giant octupus.

By: scarabic

scarabic — Wed, 02 Jul 2003 15:04:13 -0800

blue whale placenta?

By: signal

signal — Wed, 02 Jul 2003 15:04:36 -0800

And a much better link (also in spanish, sorry) from the institute the scientist works for.

By: Blue Stone

Blue Stone — Wed, 02 Jul 2003 15:23:29 -0800

I dunno... whale blows nose and it makes the news.... tschh.

By: magullo

magullo — Wed, 02 Jul 2003 15:25:17 -0800

Recent and obligatory reference material - this is fascinating stuff.

By: Kafkaesque

Kafkaesque — Wed, 02 Jul 2003 15:32:38 -0800

It is kind of disturbing that so many giant thingies are washing up lately. Have we killed the ocean so much that these majestic boogers (or octopuses) can no longer survive?

By: dash_slot-

dash_slot- — Wed, 02 Jul 2003 15:43:09 -0800

"a new species" Hah-ha. Aren't we fucking arrogant.

By: reidfleming

reidfleming — Wed, 02 Jul 2003 15:55:57 -0800

It's called Hedora. Godzilla battled and defeated it back in 71. I'm surprised it took this long for the carcass to wash ashore though.

By: stbalbach

stbalbach — Wed, 02 Jul 2003 15:58:28 -0800

Actually we are killing off so many of the natural predators of squid, squid now have the largest collective bio-mass of any creature on earth. They are literally taking over the ocean. We really should welcome our new squid overlords.

By: hammurderer

hammurderer — Wed, 02 Jul 2003 16:00:00 -0800

Yeah, I'll welcome them all right... to my stomach! mmm.... giant squid...

By: namespan

namespan — Wed, 02 Jul 2003 16:00:28 -0800

Aren't we fucking arrogant. I think most people mean "undiscovered" when they say "new" before "species". This leaves aside what offspring of mating alient-shape-shifting hot women with normal soon-to-be-dead human men are called. klaatu bardo nickname.

By: angry modem

angry modem — Wed, 02 Jul 2003 16:02:36 -0800

It is kind of disturbing that so many giant thingies are washing up lately. Have we killed the ocean so much that these majestic boogers (or octopuses) can no longer survive? or maybe stuff like this has always washed up, and media outlets are just picking up on them more?

By: jonson

jonson — Wed, 02 Jul 2003 16:07:18 -0800

Mmmmmm... Chilean Sea Blob....

By: Blue Stone

Blue Stone — Wed, 02 Jul 2003 16:07:23 -0800

I seem to recall "tall tales" of seamen, involving huge squid that attacked their ships and the like. Nothing new.

By: namespan

namespan — Wed, 02 Jul 2003 16:21:19 -0800

Rarer are the tall tales of seamen doing battle with large marshmallows, and roasting them with treasured hoards of the cacao bean when victorious, and dying horrible sticky deaths when vanquished. Much rarer indeed.

By: outsider

outsider — Wed, 02 Jul 2003 16:22:38 -0800

cthulhu?

By: jokeefe

jokeefe — Wed, 02 Jul 2003 16:35:38 -0800

He's supposed to be napping in R'lyeh (spelling from memory, probably wrong), isn't he?

By: NortonDC

NortonDC — Wed, 02 Jul 2003 16:46:22 -0800

Since all species are human inventions, yeah, it could be a new species. Everything else has to settle for just being organisms that may or may not be suitable fuckmates for each other until we deign to classify them into the groupings we invcented and called "species."

By: jokeefe

jokeefe — Wed, 02 Jul 2003 16:47:12 -0800

I'd also like to propose that the giant squid be named the official mascot of squid... I mean, metafilter.

By: fold_and_mutilate

fold_and_mutilate — Wed, 02 Jul 2003 16:55:11 -0800

"The specimen was at first taken for a beached whale when it was washed up a week ago but experts who have seen it say it appears not to have a backbone." I didn't think Rush Limbaugh could swim.

By: silusGROK

silusGROK — Wed, 02 Jul 2003 17:43:38 -0800

scarabic: placenta is what I thought, as well... maybe a miscarriage from the beached whale? Hm.

By: cup

cup — Wed, 02 Jul 2003 17:44:07 -0800

He's supposed to be napping in R'lyeh (spelling from memory, probably wrong), isn't he? "Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn." "In his house at R'lyeh dead Cthulhu waits dreaming." The Call of Cthulhu

By: jfuller

jfuller — Wed, 02 Jul 2003 19:20:08 -0800

1 (14 1/2-ounce) can diced tomatoes, drained 1/2 cup prepared chili sauce 4 tablespoons prepared horseradish 1 teaspoon sugar 5 grinds fresh black pepper 1/2 teaspoon kosher/sea salt

By: Hildago

Hildago — Wed, 02 Jul 2003 19:21:55 -0800

Or just "Cthulhu fhtagn!" if you're into the whole brevity thing. I wonder about the fact that it was spotted next to a dead whale carcass. Did the two do battle, and if so, for what, and who won?

By: xtian

xtian — Wed, 02 Jul 2003 19:23:19 -0800

El chupacabra ????!!!!! a-iiiiii

By: slipperywhenwet

slipperywhenwet — Wed, 02 Jul 2003 20:47:33 -0800

cup: Whoa! Excellent link! Thanks!

By: madman

madman — Wed, 02 Jul 2003 20:56:41 -0800

Squid... yummy squid. I wonder how this thing would taste prepared Thai-style: perhaps garlic-peppered or with chilli-tamarind paste. Blob Pad Grak-tiem Prikthai... yeah! ;)

By: pemulis

pemulis — Wed, 02 Jul 2003 21:01:00 -0800

If only i could cram that into a 40 gallon tank and keep it as a pet...

By: hashashin

hashashin — Wed, 02 Jul 2003 21:19:40 -0800

this looks a lot like another adventure in cryptozoology: the Bermuda Blob and other "globsters."

By: nelleish

nelleish — Wed, 02 Jul 2003 21:49:27 -0800

This msnbc article rehashes some, but also brings up two more possibilities: whale skin or a pyrosome "a colony of millions of plankton that can grow to up to 60 feet long." However, God's lugie is still sorta probable, I mean, just look at the thing. My father horks minature versions of that out the car window every day. And dash_slot- I'm mighty confused as to your choice ofthe word arrogant. I think it's a very humble and staggering thing that we know so very very little about the oceans, much less the Bolivian rainforests.

By: twine42

twine42 — Thu, 03 Jul 2003 05:20:15 -0800

No. I'm not going to read it. I'm getting toward the end of "From a Buick 8" and I don't need to know about things dying because they can't breathe our air and decomposing in a smell of salt and seaweed (well, cabbage). lalala-I'm_not_listening.... Erm... *blink*blink*blink*I'm-not-looking. Or something.

By: Joeforking

Joeforking — Thu, 03 Jul 2003 06:52:12 -0800

Follow up - it's a squid. With better photo.

By: five fresh fish

five fresh fish — Thu, 03 Jul 2003 09:08:08 -0800

"click to enlarge" Mmmm. A lugie close-up. Just what I wanted for breakfast. [retch]

By: mediareport

mediareport — Thu, 03 Jul 2003 10:33:16 -0800

Squid? Well, it still needs a theme song.