squid light

June 20, 2023 10:45 AM

The Mystery of the Largest Light in the Sea "A quarter-mile below the ocean’s surface, in the borderless realm of the midwater, two blue-green orbs illuminate the inky black. They glow for a few seconds then disappear. When they return, it’s for the same duration. The same disappearance. It’s a signal, a message, the morse code of an ancient language of light. Friend or foe? Rival or mate? I am here, I am this."
posted by dhruva (10 comments total)

As it sank, a large squid appeared, bathed in a halo of artificial light. The two lemon-sized photophores glowed like green floodlights. While their intensity was misleading—a result of the submersible’s beams bouncing off the reflective layer of tissue behind them—this individual had clearly opened their photophores.

TURN OFF YOUR HIGH BEAMS, JACKASS
posted by zamboni at 11:13 AM on June 20, 2023 [13 favorites]

Paywall. Alas.
posted by kinnakeet at 11:32 AM on June 20, 2023

squid light wants to be free [ungated article]
posted by chavenet at 12:30 PM on June 20, 2023 [2 favorites]

Funny, I didn’t get a paywall. There was a mistake in the nautilus.us article: 230 feet given as the length of a sperm whale (Apple autowreck: “speed whale”). Wikipedia says “up to 62 feet,” so maybe they converted meters-to-feet twice, but even that would still be too large. The headlight squid is extremely cool. Thanks for the pointer.
posted by Gilgamesh's Chauffeur at 12:35 PM on June 20, 2023 [1 favorite]

Space, the final frontier: my skinny, white tuchus.
posted by BigHeartedGuy at 1:01 PM on June 20, 2023 [1 favorite]

your soft white underbelly?
posted by seanmpuckett at 1:59 PM on June 20, 2023

Hmm...No Lovecraftian reference yet?
It is a mistake to fancy that horror is associated inextricably with darkness, silence, and solitude.

Zamboni, you're going to argue with Cthulhu about dipping his headlights?
posted by BlueHorse at 4:21 PM on June 20, 2023

my skinny, white tuchus.

if your tuchus has two glowing points you may want to consult a physician.
posted by snuffleupagus at 5:25 PM on June 20, 2023

Zamboni, you're going to argue with Cthulhu about dipping his headlights?

The joke was that the inscrutable message signaled by this mysterious denizen of the deep was for the submersible to turn off their brights.
posted by zamboni at 5:29 PM on June 20, 2023 [2 favorites]

Gibson used "squid light" as a metaphor/simile in The Peripheral; did it make it into the miniseries?
posted by Rash at 6:49 AM on June 21, 2023