Intimate encounters

April 6, 2006 9:26 PM

Dancing with demons - riveting underwater adventure about a close encounter with a giant, hungry Diablo Rojo. Also see filming the Humboldt squid. Past squid threads:1, 2, 3, and 4. Via Squidblog.
posted by madamjujujive (16 comments total)

Also, some of the author's photos.
posted by madamjujujive at 9:29 PM on April 6, 2006

Verry cool. Thanks, juju!
posted by homunculus at 9:42 PM on April 6, 2006

"Arrogance, ignorance and ego. A destructive yet all-too-common combination."

Indeed.
posted by homunculus at 9:45 PM on April 6, 2006

Awesome. Giant Squid and Principia Discordia right next to each other. Pinch me, I think I'm dreaming, or dead and gone to heaven.
posted by loquacious at 9:56 PM on April 6, 2006

Wow.
posted by mert at 10:58 PM on April 6, 2006

AHHHHH!!!! Kill them! Kill them all!!! I'm sorry, squid just absofreakinglutely scare me... My worst nightmare includes a hybrid squid-shark-bird.... (Squids... On a plane!!!!!!)
posted by Debaser626 at 12:23 AM on April 7, 2006

Neat post! ahem:The Dream of The Fisherman's Wife old japanese porn
posted by hortense at 12:59 AM on April 7, 2006

I bring this up with every discussion about squids on metafilter, but I have a personal axe to grind when it comes to cephalopods.

They were not meant to be!
posted by slimepuppy at 3:35 AM on April 7, 2006

As practice for communicating with extraterrestrial aliens that we might encounter in the future, scientists should work with these creatures.

Squids and octopi are my favorite sea creatures. Their color changing ability, their intelligence, and their downright alien-ness make for a fascinating combination.

But to actually get in the water while a group of these 6-8 foot long monsters are feeding means the author is insane.

Great article.
posted by Enron Hubbard at 3:45 AM on April 7, 2006

If you watch the National Geographic movie linked above, you'll see some of the most terrifying things ever.

In one part of the documentary, they haul a squid aboard the boat for tagging. When it emerged from the water, you could see that everything from the beak and tentacles to the top of its head was completely missing -- apparently consumed by other squid.

...but that didn't stop it from trying to feed on the guy who pulled it from the water.

The differences in the construct of the human eye and the eye of a cephalopod are interesting. Apparently, cephalopods do not have a blind spot (Search for 'everted' in this Wikipedia article for an explanation). So, they're really already far superior to us.

Just stay away from the sea.
posted by Kikkoman at 6:16 AM on April 7, 2006

me loves this.
posted by Busithoth at 6:48 AM on April 7, 2006

I parsed this as "riveting underwear adventure" and totally was expecting something else...
posted by Rhomboid at 7:40 AM on April 7, 2006

UahhahrhrhrhrhUGH. Way to cure my deep-sea-phobia.
posted by Drexen at 10:12 AM on April 7, 2006

Kikkoman writes "Just stay away from the sea."

Amen to that.
posted by OmieWise at 12:15 PM on April 7, 2006

Cephalopods only get more interesting as they get smaller. Consider the tiny—and kinda cute—Hawaiian Bobtail Squid. It lives in very shallow water and hosts light-emitting bacteria that illuminate its shadow and camouflage from predators.

The larger Mimic Octopus hides in plain sight by adopting the coloration, posture, and movements of lionfish, sea snakes, and other animals (amazing photos in this PDF.) The rapidity of cephalopods' color/texture changes is startling, as shown in this octopus video (note the ink cloud at the end).

Then there's the spectacular and aptly named Flamboyant Cuttlefish (video of it "walking", snatching prey, and changing color).

Amazing critters, thanks for the post!
posted by cenoxo at 2:01 PM on April 7, 2006 [1 favorite]

These squid have reached the SF Bay Area. Here is a story about a fishing expedition to catch these beasts; they are apparently decimating certain local fish populations.
posted by JDC8 at 9:59 PM on April 7, 2006