it finally happened: architeuthis!!

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http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20050927/sc_nm/squid_dc

LONDON (Reuters) - Japanese scientists have taken the first photographs of one of the most mysterious creatures in the deep ocean -- the giant squid.
Until now the only information about the behavior of the creatures which measure up to 18 meters (59 feet) in length has been based on dead or dying squid washed up on shore or captured in commercial fishing nets.

But Tsunemi Kubodera, of the National Science Museum, and Kyoichi Mori of the Ogasawara Whale Watching Association, both in Tokyo have captured the first images of Architeuthis attacking bait 900 meters (yards) below the surface in the cold, dark waters of the North Pacific.

"We show the first wild images of a giant squid in its natural environment," they said in a report on Wednesday in the journal Proceedings B of the Royal Society.

Little is known about the creatures because it has been so difficult to locate and study them alive. Large ships and specialist equipment, which is costly, are needed to study deep sea environments.

The Japanese scientists found the squid by following sperm whales, the most effective hunters of giant squid, as they gathered to feed between September and December in the deep waters off the coast of the Ogasawara Islands in the North Pacific.

They used a remote long-line camera and depth logging system to capture the giant squid in the ocean depths.

"The most dramatic character of giant squids is the pair of extremely long tentacles, distinct from the eight shorter arms. The long tentacles make up to two-thirds of the length of the dead specimens to date," the scientists said in the journal.

They added that the giant squid appear to be a much more active predator than researchers had suspected and tangled their prey in their elongated feeding tentacles.

 

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HUGE-PENISED ARCHITEUTHIS MALES ACCIDENTALLY RAPE EACH OTHER

VIGO, Spain (25 Sep 2005) -- RESEARCH by marine scientists has shed
startling new light on the secret sex life of the giant squid, one of
the most mysterious monsters of the world's deepest oceans.

The breakthrough came after a recent spate of strandings on the
Atlantic coast of Spain when five of the huge invertebrates - one of
them 12 metres long - were washed ashore in a single week on beaches
on the Bay of Biscay.

One of the two males washed ashore was found to have been accidentally
inseminated - backing the findings of research in previous strandings.

And scientists now believe the males had either accidentally
inseminated themselves during "violent" lovemaking sessions with
females or been inseminated by other males after "bumping" into them
in the dark depths of the ocean.

The new discovery is reported by a team of Spanish scientists at the
Institute of Marine Research in Vigo in the latest edition of the
monthly magazine of the International Council for the Exploration of
the Seas.

The researchers state: "The giant squid, Architeuthis, is not only a
cultural and media icon, but also a scientific enigma. Although it is
among the largest living invertebrates ... most of our knowledge of
its biology and ecology is still fragmented. So each time a giant
squid is washed ashore or gets brought up in a fishing net, it
provides a gold mine of information. A recent spate of strandings
along the Spanish Atlantic coast has shed new light on their unique
sexual behaviour in the ocean depths."

The report goes on: "Although mating has never been observed in giant
squid, it is thought that what happens is that the male injects his
sperm packages into the female's arms. The process is likely to be a
fairly violent affair as the female is probably not that keen on being
injected. This is a problem for the amorous male as females are
normally a third bigger than they are.

"But males get round their inferior size by being endowed with a
particularly long penis, which means they can inject the female
without having to get too close to her chomping beak. The male's
sexual organ is actually a bit like a high-pressure fire hose and is
normally nearly as long as his body - excluding legs and head.

"But having such a big penis does have one drawback: it seems that
co-ordinating eight legs, two feeding tentacles and a huge penis,
whilst fending off an irate female, is a bit too much to ask, and one
of the two males stranded on the Spanish coast had accidentally
injected himself with sperm packages in the legs and body. And this
does not seem to have been an isolated incident since two of the eight
males that had stranded in the north-east Atlantic before had also
accidentally inseminated themselves.

"It is also possible that the sperm packages had come from other males
that they had 'bumped' into, in the dark depths of the ocean. However,
the sperm packages ended up in the squid - it is just another part of
the mysterious lives of these creatures of the deep sea."

Fewer than 600 specimens of giant squid have been recorded around the
world since the 16th century, with the majority of landings and
strandings in the north-east Atlantic and off the coasts of New
Zealand and Australia. The giant squid can reach up to 18 metres in
length and weigh up to 900kg.

The researchers state: "For many years the race has been on to try to
film a giant squid going about its business in the ocean depths, and
many marine scientists are vying to get the first video footage. So
far all expeditions have been unsuccessful, but a new Spanish
expedition is currently being planned and maybe this time we will be
lucky."

 

[aura]

Squid rape...awesome, I think.

Do you have a link for that article? I'd like to have some people read it.

 

[avi]

wow, that's some serious hentai fodder

 

[xfer]

i dunno wind try googling it or google newsing it