Nature Blog Network

Friday, August 22, 2008

Giant Gelatinous Breeding Blob

Mesonychoteuthis hamiltoni, the Colossal squid, is usually thought to be a pretty aggressive deep sea squid, but based on his research of the recently dissected speciment Steve O'Shea has this to say:

"We are looking at something verging on the incredibly bizarre. As she got older she got shorter and broader and was reduced to a giant gelatinous blob, carrying many thousands of eggs,"
"Her shape was likely to have affected her behavior and ability to hunt. I can't imagine her jetting herself around in the water at any great speed, and she was too gelatinous to have been a fighting machine."
Of course this is an early hypothesis based on the examination of one specimen...
“It’s not sitting down there sipping on cups of tea or anything like that."
You just gotta love cephalopods!
More on the story

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