Giant squid are taking over the world!

August 2, 2002 4:38 PM

Giant squid are taking over the world! The bad news is this is most likely a symptom of global warming. The good news is its likely we'll be able to catch a live giant squid to put on display. Hey, its friday.
posted by skallas (22 comments total)

Where is Kirk Douglas now?
posted by muckster at 4:51 PM on August 2, 2002

You laugh now...
posted by tirade at 5:12 PM on August 2, 2002

I want giant calamari rings!
posted by MrBaliHai at 5:30 PM on August 2, 2002

It is believed that they rarely have an opportunity to mate, and live isolated lives.

*sheds tear for the lonely giant squid*
posted by evanizer at 5:48 PM on August 2, 2002

There are already two giant squid on display in giant pickle-jar tanks at The Museum of Natural History. I saw them last week, and they were HUGE.
posted by brownpau at 5:49 PM on August 2, 2002

Ok, jokes aside (and I have a few that spring to mind) - didn't the very existence of giant squid used to be in question not long ago? I seem to remember my biology textbooks in HS saying, in effect:

"Giant squid most likely exist, but are really really rare. A couple of tentacles have washed up on beaches once or twice, but we're not likely to ever see a live one as they dwell in the deep and don't venture close to land."

I know this has been discussed before, but wtf? This is like aliens suddenly showing up, and everybody shrugging and going on with their business. The stuff about requiring serious amounts of pressure to live, etc. can't really be explained by evolution - Dr. Jackson's explanation aside, don't that take like kerzillions of years for a big ol' change like this? If overfishing were the reason, doesn't that imply that they've always been lurking up here in the 1-5 atmosphere depth?

Anyhow, I'm confused and undereducated on the subject. Someone who's not, please explain.
posted by GriffX at 5:50 PM on August 2, 2002

I for one welcome our new giant squid overlords.



posted by slipperywhenwet at 5:52 PM on August 2, 2002

I remember that too, GriffX -- I wish I knew when the switch was. Suddenly they were acceptable! I know at one point the big evidence in favor of the squids were giant sucker-marks on the skin of beached whales...

As for the evolution thing -- sometimes evolutionary steps can happy quicker than normal, especially when environmental changes are concerned. And factor in that the squid have lifespans of less than a year. With such small generations, evolutionary gets faster still.
posted by LuxFX at 6:18 PM on August 2, 2002

It's gonna take a lot of tartar sauce, but I'm up for the challenge.
posted by briank at 6:28 PM on August 2, 2002

I want giant calamari rings!

We'll need a 50-gallon drum of cockatil sauce, plus about 50 gross of lemons.....
posted by jonmc at 6:32 PM on August 2, 2002

damn you briank :)
posted by jonmc at 6:32 PM on August 2, 2002

I expect a rise in tentacle porn sales.
posted by WolfDaddy at 6:42 PM on August 2, 2002

I love that, pound for pound, there's more squid flesh than human flesh in the world, and yet still we can't find even one of the elusive giants, save for the occasional unimpressive and oxymoronic "baby giant squid." There is some lesson about survival of the less stupid here.
posted by brookish at 7:29 PM on August 2, 2002

Damn you slipperywhenwet! I wanted to say that!
posted by Windopaene at 8:33 PM on August 2, 2002

Someone tried eating the Giant Squid. Tasted like amonia.
posted by stbalbach at 8:54 PM on August 2, 2002

Ironically the Giant Squid thrives because of human activities with global warming yet we live such seperate and distance lives we never knew it existed untill recently.
posted by stbalbach at 8:59 PM on August 2, 2002

Headlines don't get much better than this: Giant Squid Blowout. Get yours now!
posted by josephtate at 11:39 PM on August 2, 2002

Call today! Get the giant pet for the person who's always wanted a kraken in their backyard pool! And you thought your watchdog was scary!

Call in the next five minutes, and you can get this fantastic animal for not 5, but 4 -- that's right, FOUR! -- easy payments of $49.95. (tax applicable in the states of HI and CA, shipping and handling will vary depending on your location but will be a minimum of twelve million dollars)
posted by LuxFX at 11:56 PM on August 2, 2002

I'm ready for my close up Mr. DeMille.
posted by y2karl at 12:06 AM on August 3, 2002

Oh, braVA on the mouseover there, y2karl.

And I suppose the fact that the video clip was munged on my 'puter so that I didn't actually get to see any giant squid was intentional?
posted by WolfDaddy at 12:54 AM on August 3, 2002

Yeah, WolfDaddy, those squid are also skilled at hacking clips to preserve their mystique.
posted by alumshubby at 5:24 AM on August 3, 2002

This article doesn't seem to understand the difference between squid and giant squid. Certainly squid may be getting bigger, and their population seems to be increasing. And we have found more giant squid recently than ever before, so their populations may be increasing also. But how can we possibly know if the giant squid are getting bigger? Especially since the ones we have caught recently are not big enough to make those giant sucker marks LuxFX refers to. We still haven't found a fully grown big one.

On somewhat related note: this still creeps me out.
posted by emyd at 12:32 PM on August 3, 2002