"Born like stars"

April 14, 2007 11:15 AM

A surprisingly beautiful video of a squid giving birth. The editing is a little over done, and the adult squid doesn't actually show up until 2:50.
posted by delmoi (25 comments total)

Great post...it's so weird and beautiful.

I think I'm going to have to give up calamari.
posted by Liosliath at 11:26 AM on April 14, 2007

Arrr, squiddy, I got nothin' against ya, I just heard there was gold in yer belly, harrrr, harrrr, harrr
posted by psmealey at 11:29 AM on April 14, 2007

That was beautiful.
posted by Kraftmatic Adjustable Cheese at 11:33 AM on April 14, 2007

That song's "I'll Read You a Story" by Colleen.

Awfully fitting.
posted by OrangeDrink at 11:46 AM on April 14, 2007

OrangeDrink, thank you for the song info - I saw this video on Wholphin a while back, but could never find any reference to the musician. I'm glad to know, as the music as as goregous as the footage...
posted by marlys at 12:07 PM on April 14, 2007

where's the surprise? awesome, thanks.
posted by Busithoth at 12:09 PM on April 14, 2007

You can hear most of her songs at her website.

And now I have another reason to finally just buy Wolphin.
posted by OrangeDrink at 12:11 PM on April 14, 2007

Ahhhhh....! The Aquatic Horror.
posted by SmileyChewtrain at 12:27 PM on April 14, 2007

Metafilter: Take that, cephalopod traditionalists!

And thank you, OrangeDrink, that was going to be my first question.

Also - anyone have more information about the lead-up to this birth? Where is the sac of babies during gestation, if you can call it that?
posted by odinsdream at 12:34 PM on April 14, 2007

Squid enthusiasts may enjoy knowing about Bruce Schneier's blog. He is a cryptographer who posts something on squid every Friday, for reasons unknown to mere mortals.
posted by sindark at 1:14 PM on April 14, 2007

This seems like as good a place as any to tell about going to a new restaurant in town last week, ordering calimari (the kids love it), and finding at the bottom of the order a fully-formed, deep fried (presumably baby) squid about two and a half inches long from tentacle to tentacle (with the head intact). I begged my wife to let me take it home and snap a picture of it, but she wasn't having it. I too doubt I'll be eating calimari again any time soon, but for entirely different reasons than Liosliath.
posted by Doofus Magoo at 3:32 PM on April 14, 2007

I was kind of expecting a big squiggly money-shot.

But this is nice too.
posted by hal9k at 3:50 PM on April 14, 2007

Ah, squid are so exquisitely elegant. That video was a wonderful work of art, the mother squid, like a floating alien, doe-eyed with wafting mantle and tentacles. So graceful! And the babies, sweet tadpoles, Yes, excellent metaphor, born like stars in that deep blue. The music was a great choice.

"Pregnant human mothers think they have it tough, but new photos show some squid moms carry 3,000 developing embryos around for up to nine months." More about pregnant squid.

A squid that glows. Random factoid, large stretch of ocean that glows.
posted by nickyskye at 4:47 PM on April 14, 2007

Lovely. Thanks, delmoi.
posted by homunculus at 5:26 PM on April 14, 2007

The landing of a colossal squid by New Zealand fishermen earlier this year offered a rare glimpse into the mysterious world deep beneath the waves. Scientist Mark Norman uses this week's Green Room to argue that it also shows how marine life is being destroyed before it is understood.
posted by homunculus at 5:47 PM on April 14, 2007

Awesome! I think I might have to go watch it again. Thanks!
posted by naoko at 5:54 PM on April 14, 2007

Wholphin is AWESOME. In the most recent issue, 3, I _LOVE_ the clips from that one Japanese Movie whose name I forget. I cannot wait to see the entire thing. I hope it gets released stateside, so I don't just have to order a Japanese DVD of it.
posted by Rev. Syung Myung Me at 6:45 PM on April 14, 2007

The landing of a colossal squid by New Zealand fishermen earlier this year offered a rare glimpse into the mysterious world deep beneath the waves.

Colossal. Giant wasn't big enough, now they're colossal. That's, like, dinosaur big. We're all doomed.
posted by dazed_one at 7:15 PM on April 14, 2007

Calamari I get at all our local pubs is always full of baby octopi. I'm surprised you were surprised, DMagoo.
posted by five fresh fish at 7:30 PM on April 14, 2007

dazed_one, colossal squid (Mesonychoteuthis hamiltoni), are actually a different species than giant squid (Architeuthis sp.).
posted by oneirodynia at 8:26 PM on April 14, 2007

Oh and, thanks! Very cool video.
posted by oneirodynia at 8:34 PM on April 14, 2007

Cool vid delmoi!

I used to scuba dive with my dad in the cayman's, and once when we were on a night dive about 100 yards offshore in 40 feet of water, we came upon these two squid. They were attracted to our lights, and they stayed right in front of us, close enough to reach out and touch, for about ten minutes. The amazing thing was that they were changing color the entire time (forgotten the technical term and too drunk to look it up). The color spectrums were stunning. It looked like the weird rainbow patterns that you see on oil stains covered with water. To this day it was probably the most amazing thing I have ever seen.


and what the hell is wolphin?
posted by vronsky at 10:53 PM on April 14, 2007

But nobody has linked to the guys responsible for this video?

Encyclopedia Pictura. (Wholphin is the online journal they collaborated with.) They do amazing shit, including the Lynch-esque Grizzly Bear video they just did, and it's all on their web site in much higher resolution than this youtube version.
posted by fungible at 7:23 AM on April 15, 2007 [1 favorite]

Congratulations, Reg. It's a...squid.
posted by Thorzdad at 8:06 AM on April 15, 2007

Not to sound mean or anything, but one wonders how many of those new baby squid ended up getting sucked through the submersible's thrusters...
posted by Samizdata at 9:58 AM on April 15, 2007