
​Giant Squid Babies Found for the First Time - Mz
http://motherboard.vice.com/read/giant-squid-babies-found-in-japan-for-the-first-time
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pvaldes
This is a terrific notice. Deep sea squids are really interesting creatures,
and now that we are culling the fishes much more common that most people
thing.

This is probably, also another symptom of the hidden war for the deep-sea
fisheries.

The idea that people could be eating those babies by mistake is strange. I can
brag that I touched a giant squid some years ago (yup, the damned thing,
literally), and the ammonia smell was in my hands for a week. Nasty and
persistent. I wonder how someone could eat one of these without to puke. Long
and complex previous manipulation at least I suppose.

Another interesting question is why those youngs have not been found before
(never, ever, as long as I remember) as prey of cetaceans or sharks.

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andrewflnr
How long had the one you touched been dead? Also, is it possible they get
stinkier as they get older?

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pvaldes
Not to much. The problem is that, most species of mesopelagic squids
accumulate ammonia in the flesh for buoyancy. Thus, they can rest floating at
a desired deep level instead spending precious energy constantly to avoid
sinking or surfacing.

The white flesh have a strong odour and, as ammonia is poisonous, they are
inedible for humans (unless you find a way to eliminate the excess of ammonia
first). I did a quick drawn and take some measures in a piece of paper. After
years, this paper still smells a little.

> Is it possible they get stinkier as they get older?

Yes but only in the first months of live. Ammonia is a mean to lower the
muscle density just upon water density, so there is a limit to the amount of
ammonia that a older squid can have per Kg. More ammonia and they will tend to
surface.

The problem is that giant squids can not cope well with "hot" water. Their
blood cells are tuned to work in cold waters (richer in dissolved oxygen). The
models predict that in the sea surface they just can not breath faster enough
to fit their needs, will become sluggish and die. They probably migrate to
upper levels at night to hunt, but not surfacing. This is great for us because
the probability of an Architeuthis stalking and snatching humans swimming in
open sea is zero.

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aidos
This article links to another about footage from a dive in 2013. As far as I
can tell this is part of it [0] – it's really quite beautiful.

[0]
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jCWop491Q9Y](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jCWop491Q9Y)

~~~
auxym
There's also this TED talk which is interesting

[http://www.ted.com/talks/edith_widder_how_we_found_the_giant...](http://www.ted.com/talks/edith_widder_how_we_found_the_giant_squid)

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gnarbarian
Catching one giant squid in your lifetime is lucky, catching 4 has got to be
talent.

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AnimalMuppet
So, _medium_ squid, then?

