Entries Tagged "squid"

Page 89 of 108

Friday Squid Blogging: How to Capture a Giant Squid

Three methods:

Method 2: Offer Squid a Tasty Treat

If your preferred squid looks hungry, try luring it with a delicious oil tanker. During the course of the 1930s, the Norwegian tanker Brunswick was attacked not once, not twice, but three times by giant squid. Metal boats don’t sound especially appetizing, but scientists think squid mistake the large, gray objects for whales—a decidedly yummy entree giant squid have been known to dine upon. Unfortunately, it’s more difficult to get a good grip on the steel hull of a tanker, than on the pliable hide of a whale. Whenever a squid tried to put the Brunswick in a choke hold, its tentacles would slip, and the squid would end up making a fatal slide into the ship’s propellers.

Posted on May 22, 2009 at 4:00 PMView Comments

Learning About Giant Squid From Sperm Whale Stomachs

Interesting research:

By looking in the stomachs of three sperm whales stranded in the Bay of Biscay, Cherel recovered hundreds of beaks from 19 separate species—17 squids including the giant squid, the seven-arm octopus (the largest in the world) and the bizarre vampire squid. Together, these species represent a decent spread of the full diversity of deep-sea cephalopods.

He analysed the chemical composition of the beaks. and in particular, their ratio of carbon isotopes (carbon-13 compared to carbon-13) and their ratio of ratio of nitrogen isotopes (nitrogen-15 compared to nitrogen-14). These measurements are a reflection of both what and where the animals ate.

Levels of carbon-13 can tell us how deep an animal lives, whether it swims offshore or inshore, and whether it spends its time in the open ocean, or sticks close to its floor. All of the cephalopods’ carbon-13 levels fell within a narrow range, indicating that all 19 species live in similar and overlapping parts of the ocean.

Posted on April 3, 2009 at 4:28 PMView Comments

1 87 88 89 90 91 108

Sidebar photo of Bruce Schneier by Joe MacInnis.