Why does it’s eye look so Human?
10
This article is a wonderful change of pace: a giant squid instead of Donald Trump. What a welcome relief.
166
Why couldn't this a be 20 second video? Man I love the ocean.
32
So genuinely excited it’s Cephalopod week in the NYTimes - my husband’s currently reading « Other Minds » a very readable book examining how Octopus intelligence evolved separately to human intelligence. Can’t wait to see what tomorrow brings.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Other_Minds:_The_Octopus,_the_Sea,_and_the_Deep_Origins_of_Consciousness
27
@Helen
Other Minds - great book!
6
It knows that we're here.
13
A wonderful discovery borne of planning and patience. I would love to see the video.
I can't help but notice in the photograph that the males have the computer screen pointed to them, and the female director of the program (and designer of the lure) and another female are tucked off to the side, squinting to see from a shallow angle. Sigh.
59
@we Tp I noticed that too first thing. Teeth clenched.
28
What a delight—sitting here drinking coffee, about to start a busy day, and saw this wonderful article. Congratulations to the team whose labors have provided the world with this dazzling, new information! I may be late for work today, but never mind—what joy it is hear about, and to see this discovery unfold in the midst of all the mayhem and madness that is happening up above on dry land. My thanks to one and all responsible for sharing this momentous event!
43
Wow.
Just wow!
36
@ROImy thoughts exactly!
9
I imagine that the whip-blow from the tentacle would stun or brain most fish and sea mammals. That wasn't a caress. The squid whipped its tentacle across the light.
20
Calamari for a year!
18
Giant squids are pretty amazing. Did anyone besides me see the futuristic documentary about what might happen an eon after us humans go extinct? "Squibbons," a squid-based form of intelligence which is incredibly agile on trees, ends up being the most likely candidate to replace us. The idea is that squids need a lot of intelligence to operate ten tentacles, change shape and color, and that their intelligence could evolve more if it needed to. Remember we that humans came from a tree-dwelling mammal between a squirrel and a monkey.
56
"That we" in my last sentence as opposed to "we that."
8
Didn't see it, but check out the ending of the 2013 film "Europa Report" about a crew of researchers traveling to that moon... it's magnificent.
https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/europa_report/
9
So, what do Huckabee Sanders, Kellyanne Conway and giant squids have in common?
Like them, giant squids aren't known known for being partial to holding press briefings.
I can easily see one being appointed as Trump's next White House Press Secretary.
Provided,of course, that he or she is able to get a top-level security clearance.
14
Like them, giant squids aren't known for being partial to holding press briefings.
4
A forty-foot squid! That's a lot of calamari!
6
So, I'm thinking Calamari tonight.
6
Jules Verne and Captain Nemo are delighted. Herman Melville also since sperm whales feast on giant squids.
20
What a wonderful article. The excitement of the researchers made me smile, and given how many sociopathic and greedy people there are out there who are eager to destroy the earth for their own benefit, I really need the stories about those who are the polar opposite. Like these researchers, helping us get a better understanding of the wondrous creatures that inhabit this earth - you know, before we manage to kill them off.
68
Great. Now even octopi are doing selfies?
14
Congratulations to Dr. Widder for her now proven innovative technique and the crew of the Point Sur for making this all possible!
54
Thank you for the video with a great shot of the tentacle. That definitely fulfilled my cephalopod fix for the day. Don't wait seven years for the next view. The science section is always my first stop when I read the paper, for reasons of mental clarity.
43
Fried calamari for the whole school.
5
The senate will be briefed. Last week, UFOs; this week, leviathans of the deep.
11
We’re gonna need a bigger fryer! (Just kidding. That’s a magnificent creature and great story).
12
Why do we think it is “attacking” rather than just investigating?
20
@T
um, because it's nature.
11
@T
Look at how hard that tentacle comes down on the light. That's a blow intended to stun prey. That's not a high-five. It's a crushing blow.
17
How brilliant are these animals to be smart enough to stay away from humans for so long and to live so separately from us on this beautiful planet.
54
Gee, you failed to mention how large a "giant" squid actually is.
5
@Rikki Ray
"...about 10 feet long: a juvenile, in a species that can grow to nearly 40 feet."
15
They can grow up to 40 feet. It’s in the article.
14
@Rikki Ray
"(Giant squids aren’t the only squids that live in the deep sea, and this one was only — “only” — about 10 feet long: a juvenile, in a species that can grow to nearly 40 feet.)"
10
science is so awesome
26
This story is missing a critical detail. How big was it?
4
Its a giant but the colossal squid is even bigger.
5
I love grilled squid
2
Squid as a species: just trying to survive, NOT destructive or harmful to our planet. Humans as a species: ?
15
When I taught middle school life science the California squid (Doryteuthis opalescens) was my favorite dissection. My students loved it too and I always showed them amazing videos of the even larger Humbolt squid (Dosidicus gigas), attacking and eating their own that had a camera attached to it. Cephalopods in general and squid in particular make great subjects for instruction as it’s fairly easy to show the connections between the various groups, from Nautilus to cuttlefish to squid and octopus, and they are so foreign to our normal life. Kids can’t wait to explore life so different from what they usually see. Fascinating, thanks for the article. Science is really the hope of our future.
Oh and the scientific name of giant squid is Architeuthis dux.
33
Really fascinating and happy to learn a bit more about undersea life, thanks.
Not to be churlish, but I found "giant squid, the things of our wildest imagination! They’re part of our land, they’re part of our country.” a very odd thing for a scientist to say. Is a sea creature deep in the Gulf of Mexico really part of our country? And- who cares? Nature doesn't care about our boundaries, it seemed strange to claim it for the US somehow.
16
@Southamptoner I find the comment less nationalistic and more about how activities in the U.S. can impact the habitat and ecosystem -- only 100 miles offshore and near enough to methane flares that one can worry. The comment is about how we are close enough to these creatures to impact them.
51
@Southamptoner Actually not in our country, as the border is recognized as twelve miles from the coast. But I understood what she's saying, it's, like, essentially right here under our noses. And vessels.
10
Awesome article. Fascinating creatures.
37
Imagine the patience of these scientists. To wait 7 years between sightings, wow. No wonder their excitement is so great.
62
The cutline says the squid attacked. The story says explored. Need to harmonize. I don't see any evidence of the animal deploying its beak, so doesn't seem aggressive enough to warrant attack.
15
"Is that food? Can I eat it? Oh. No. That's not food."
37
@Benjo Right? The scientists were excited. The squid was disappointed.
15
I am going to see this in my nightmares !!!
5
woah! the way it moves... that is terrifying!
15
I am secretly hoping that one of these creatures becomes so large that it somehow manages to wrap its tentacles around Washington DC one weekend and pull every federal building beneath the surface of the ocean.
58
@Frank J Haydn
What is wrong with you?
5
@Frank J Haydn Just the White House and the Senate leader's office, please.
22
@Frank J Haydn
I'd be happy to see republicans fend for themselves, especially commander bone spurs.
12
finally, some good news :)
33
Very, very cool.
Now, one can only hope for Godzilla, but perhaps emerging from the sea near DC, and taking care of some business there.
Oh, please, show the folly of (much of US) man!
And then a big ole party. More cowbell, baby.
10
What a fascinating and mysterious animal. Let's get one of these bad boys in a public aquarium.
1
@The Buddy
Let's not.
40
@The Buddy
No. Let them alone. If scientists want to dissect an already dead individual, that's fine.
But let them be. Captivity does no living thing any good.
35
@The Buddy Noooo let's stop torturing animals for our entertainment (however well-intended) and instead preserve and protect their habitats and food ecosystem!
33
Squids really are weirder and more "alien" than 99% of sci-fi notions of what aliens may look like.
28
Way cool.
18
If you will indulge me . . .
Kraken Song
(The principal predator of the Giant Squid is the Sperm Whale)
Currents move me.
I rest, these arms rest,
These suckers by which I know thee.
How cold you might say, how dark,
Yet I am content.
Cold, dark, only for surface fools
If they think of it at all.
This current that I breathe
And is my being.
This cave.
You may say I hide after my gorging,
But I am only waiting.
Both awake and asleep,
Which are the same.
I am Seeing.
Your massive shape looms above,
Worthy and dangerous.
Come close so that I may puncture you,
Drag you into myself
Until you must release
Your poisoned air.
Your infernal humming,
By this too I know thee.
It draws me up and out
Into our fated, fateful dance.
Sing to me the wonders of your breath
Beneath the stars,
As I wrap you in my arms,
Ride your surging insouciance.
I’ll extract from you the price
For your invasion,
Taste your crimson ecstasy—
Your hunger is your death.
Ah, these arms.
My limitless reach
Beyond yours.
Come. Let me hold you.
When you feel my terror-bite
It is too late.
I love your mass and power
For I contain it.
And what is death to me?
For I am this ceasless current
And will carry you even when I am gone.
Surge, unfold, embrace, destroy:
Try and stop me.
Kraken Song ©Fred Weiner Cascabel River Writers 19 May 2018
29
@Incanto Blanko
Thank you for sharing this song and poem.
6
Why is the lead (woman) scientist off to the side? I’m hoping it’s because in the excitement this was the only or best shot taken of the team. Generally the principal investigator should be front and center.
23
@Julie Zuckman’s
Yeah, she was sitting front and center, but the photographer said "honey, you and the other broad need to step over to the side so we can place the men in the dominant positions." Of course that is how it all played out.
12
@Julie Zuckman’s
OR could it be that having watched the video herself several dozen times--to be sure of what she had--she invited all the others in to get a closer look? Let's not assume anything.
Why not search up Dr. Widder, e-mail her, and ask about her memory of that event?
11
As a boy I thrilled when imagining the titanic struggles between Sperm Whales and the mythical Giant Squid, leviathan vs. kraken, with only the telltale scars of foot-wide suckers dotting the flanks of the whales to bear witness to the sheer scale of their battles. Sometimes, my young mind would turn the tables and the whales themselves became prey to the great-grandfather of all giant squids, perhaps wrapping an overly confident young whale on it's first deep dive, in tentacles thicker than me, and dragging the helpless mammal into cold, dark depths beyond my imaging. Seeing the real thing is even more thrilling to my middle-aged, apparently still childlike mind. What an achievement! Kudos!
35
There's a short story by H.G. Wells about a giant squid. Visiting the shores of England way back when.
Goodness, it was horrifying. The creature was enormous. Deadly. Feasting on human beings.
The more so because Wells (with his natural scientific bent) scrupulously avoided "purple passages." There are no rhetorical heights or depths in his writing. He never "writes up" anything.
Everything plain--matter-of-fact. As if recording (cf. "The War of the Worlds") a genuine occurrence--which is just what I thought it the first time I read the piece.
The sea. It surrounds us, doesn't it. Occupying what? sixty some percent of the earth's surface.
And we cannot LIVE there. We can work NEAR it or ON and even swim or dive IN it--
--but as a livable environment. No. Totally hostile to human life.
And those squids. And octopuses. And whales. And sharks. How fascinating they are. Quite deadly, some of them--but fascinating. Which leads to one more final thought:
We're not all stupid in America. Not yet. We've haven't ALL gone over to the science-haters--the people that cannot wrap their minds around new ideas, new concepts, new facts. There's still good SCIENCE going on in the good old USA. And hey!
Makes me proud of my country. Just a bit.
Today's fractious political climate notwithstanding. And hey!
More videos of a giant squid would be nice.
But I guess those guys think so too.
More power to them.
20
I apologize in advance for sounding like a spoiled brat, but I wish this video clip could have been shown in color rather than b/w. I would have loved to see that "ring of pulsating blue LEDs" against the color of the approaching and attacking juvenile giant squid.
Even so, it is a spectacular and riveting video!
Thanks for sharing with the world.
15
I believe it was filmed by an infrared camera so by definition it was a color film, just not colors that out eyes register.
4
Amazing and wonderful. Keep plastics out of the water stream!
128
@RCJCHC
Keep the fishing vessels out of the water stream.
ALL these animals have the right to live their own life, and not be hauled up from the ocean bottom and cooked.
May I eat YOUR children for dinner? I thought not...
8
Congratulations to the team! What an amazing effort.
52
Of all the types of happy in this world, few are better than "scientist making a big discovery" happy. My heart swells when I see scientists talk about their findings - they're always so excited!
201
Somewhere in the Great Beyond, Jules Verne is also smiling.
168
@Vanessa Hall - I had the same thought.
16
Slowly. One might even say, maliciously.
6
The giant squid is so elusive/its sightings have not been conclusive/Were I a squid of such great size/I would not want to advertise/and wind up as an exhibition/without hope of manumission.
65
This is one of the absolutely coolest video clips and articles I've read in a long time.
Fascinating doesn't even begin to describe it.
Thank you NYT and Brooke Jarvis!!
Another stellar reason why I am a loyal paid subscriber.
153
Wonderful story. Thanks.
17
Architeuthis.
This is the scientific designation, but does he or she have another name?
7
@Hydra
Sue.
16
There appears to be some argument whether there are more than one species in this genus. But the latest study came down on the side of only one— Architeuthis dux
7
as a child, i remember seeing the diorama display at the american museum of natural history of a sperm whale eating a giant squid, its tentacles wrapped around the whale's head. it gave me chills and absolutely fascinated me, as did the fiberglass replica of a giant squid hung from the ceiling in the marine hall. i was and still am fascinated by cephalopods! these brief glimpses of an almost mythical creature are absolutely thrilling to see and i'm just as thrilled as when i was a kid.
56
Long live the kraken!
But seriously, let's do more to preserve and protect this wonderful world.
91
I find those creatures as terrifying as I do captivating and intriguing. Man, can they whip those arms and tentacles around in an instant. Fascinating!!!
20
Leave them in peace.
52
When giving a measure such as size, could the Times also include metric units, for the benefit of its global readers? Thank you.
44
I'm no big-city scientist but I'm not sure I would describe that as an "attack."
10
Absolutely incredible! When I was a child, these amazing creatures were essentially theoretical. Today, we know they are indeed real. Let us hope we can adjust our ways to make sure the ocean remains a viable habitat for all of the magnificent denizens of the deep.
96
I have snorkeled with the 10” variety, returning to the same spot and swimming with the same school of squid for years on end. They engaged with us in fascinating and clearly intentional ways...hovering, changing color, retreating, and coming forward again as we considered each other.
I cannot get my head around the giant version but I am so glad to know there are creatures we have yet to kill off or otherwise compromise. Indeed, the ocean under us is even more mysterious than (near) space in part because it IS part of our planet. Wonderous.
149
What an amazing and awesome clip and article.
Thank you NYT.
This is another reason why I subscribe to the greatest newspaper/source in the world.
72
I've seen typically sized squid get attacked by seagulls in Orient, NY years ago. One squid turned around in the bird's mouth and proceeded to gnaw the seagull's beak with its own while keeping the seagull's beak closed by wrapping it tentacles around it, and, poked the bird's eyes in the process .
It got away.
I can't image how a 40' squid must fight.
152
Wonderful life!
Cephalopods are very alien and ancient.
More humans have been to the Moon than the deep blue sea aka Marianas Trench.
As humans search for signs of life as we know it in the cosmos, the definition of life as we know it continues to evolve and expand. All swans were black until they were not. All life needed sunlight until it didn't.
Astrobiology is not a science unless and until it has a subject.
32
Architeuthis! 25 years ago in H.S. biology class we dissected a squid about 8 inches long. The beak, the ink, its intelligence, it was all so fascinating and alien-like. Later we learned of a known-unknown "giant" squid and how it was believed that those creatures could grow to by 50 (or more feet)! Just imagine what else is down there in the deep that we know nothing about...
This made my day. Big congrats to the team.
207