First records of juvenile giant squid, Architeuthis (Cephalopoda: Oegopsida) By Roper, C F E & Young, R E

Proceedings of The Biological Society of Washington Vol 85, P. 205—222

Anatomy of Loligo (squid) and Sepia (cuttlefish) by BioDivLibrary on Flickr.

rhamphotheca:

Pacific flying squid (Todarodes pacificus) leap out of the water and take flight in the northwest Pacific Ocean, 600 km east of Tokyo. The mollusc propels itself out of the ocean by shooting a jet of water at high pressure, before opening its fins to glide at up to 11.2 metres per second, and then fly more than 30 m (100 feet)…

(read more: Telegraph UK)

Picture: AFP PHOTO / HOKKAIDO UNIVERSITY / KOUTA MURAMATSU

heracliteanfire:

From The anatomy of the common squid, Loligo pealii by Leonard Worcester Williams, 1909 (via Open Library)

rhamphotheca:

Giant squid filmed in Pacific depths, Japan scientists report

by Shingo Ito

Scientists and broadcasters said Monday they have captured footage of an elusive giant squid roaming the depths of the Pacific Ocean, showing it in its natural habitat for the first time ever.

Japan’s National Science Museum succeeded in filming the deep-sea creature at a depth of more than half a kilometre (a third of a mile) after teaming up with Japanese public broadcaster NHK and the US Discovery Channel.

The massive invertebrate is the stuff of legend, with sightings of a huge ocean-dwelling beast reported by sailors for centuries. The creature is thought to be the genesis of the Nordic legend of Kraken, a sea monster believed to have attacked ships in waters off Scandinavia over the last millennium.

Modern-day scientists on their own Moby Dick-style search used a submersible to descend to the dark and cold depths of the northern Pacific Ocean, where at around 630 m (2,066 ft) they managed to film a three-metre specimen. After around 100 missions, during which they spent 400 hours in the cramped submarine, the three-man crew tracked the creature from a spot some 15 km (9 mi) east of Chichi island in the north Pacific.

Museum researcher Tsunemi Kubodera said they followed the enormous mollusc to a depth of 900 m as it swam into the ocean abyss…

(read more: PhysOrg)                              (image: NHK/Discovery Channel)

(via somuchscience)

geisterseher:

George Titus Ferris, Wonders of marine life. With ninety-five illustrations (1894)

lindsayholladay:

Squid - watercolor

theoddmentemporium:

Earnst Haeckel’s Christmas Cards

All the sweet things that the squiddies,
Twittering in the dewy spray,
Wish each other in the springtime,
I wish you this happy day. 

Marine themed Christmas cards from Earnst Haeckel, the eminent German biologist, naturalist,  philosopher, physician, professor and artist who discovered, described and named thousands of new species, mapped a genealogical tree relating all life forms, and coined many terms in biology, including anthropogeny, ecology, phylum, phylogeny, stem cell, and the kingdom Protista. [Wikipedia]

Advent Calendar of Oddments 2012: December 16th

factstofigures:

Contributing Artists: Simon Chew, Daniel Cole, Nigel Gerke, R. Gibson, Toni Hargreaves, P. J. Hayward, Phyllis Knight-Jones, Paul J. Llewellyn, P. J. A. Pugh, J. S. Ryland, and Nathalie Yonow.

Hayward, P. J. and Ryland, J. S. (Eds.) (1995). Handbook of the Marine Fauna of North-West Europe. New York: Oxford University Press Inc.