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As promised in the Christmas special, we call the ‘squid-phone’ – a special line used by scientists globally when they seem something strange and squiddy. On the other end of that line is Mike Vecchione, the expert on cephalopods. We talk giant and colossal squid (to audible groans from Mike); the bigfin squid (Magnapinna), most famous for being the squid with the long trailing arms that’s often used as an example of terrifying deep-sea creatures, but also a species, genus and Family that Mike described and would love more sightings of.
In recent news, we worry about deep-ocean circulation and its impact on climate. Reflect on a year of amazing sightings from Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI) including the giant phantom jelly (Stygiomedusa gigantea) and barreleye fish (Macropinna microstoma).
We also address a snailfish imposter. The world’s deepest fish, the Mariana snailfish is more often than not represented by an image of a totally different species that happens to have a more attractive headshot. Prema Arasu presents her poem; An Ode to the Blobfish, in honour of another species dominated by one misleading photo.
Our regular contributors drop by too: Larkin – our resident deckhand tells the tale of an impromptu squid dissection and Don Walsh reflects on piloting the super-deep diving bathyscaphe Trieste in a time when giant squid attack was still a worry.
Feel free to get in touch with questions or you own tales from the high seas on:
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An Ode to the Blobfish by Prema Arasu
O Psychrolutes marcidus! O gelatinous shape!
Thou art the ravish’d bride of deep-sea trawlers—
Unassuming foster child of the timeless abyss
Untimely ripp’d from thy diatomaceous womb
Fearful fishermen rejoice at thy sacrifice
An Antipodean altar attended by inchoate priest—
Then once by man and angels to be seen,
In roaring thou shall rise and on the surface die.
Were I anointed and dragged to your Hadal habitus
Flayed and deconsecrated at thy mucilaginous prow—
Were I to partake in salt’d communion
With thou, we would be one and the same.
Hideousness is a lie, lies hideousness, that is all
We know on land, and all we need to know.
Correction
The Permian-Triassic extinction was not 98% of marine life, 96% of often cited but 81% seems the most accurate current estimate.
Links
Check out this fantastic book that Mike co-authored if you would like to learn more about cephalopods
Larkin’s YouTube channel My Salty Sea Life
More info about Prema Arasu
MBARI have had a great year for filming deep-sea critters and have a best-of reel on YouTube
Nautilus Magazine and Alan's interview
Global assessment of hadal fishes – our big paper
Abyssobrotula galatheae – previous deepest fish from a single report
Bony-eared assfish - smallest brain to body ratio of a vertebrate
Lonesome marine biologist Nando
The Pteropods – swimming snails
Oegopsida or Oceanic squids, the true squid
Myopsids or coastal squids, could be considered true squid
Sepiolida the bobtail squids
Vampyroteuthis infernalis the vampire squid, more closely related to octopods
Magnapinna sp. The bigfin squid, a charismatic and recently discovered family (the one's that creep everyone out!)
My Octopus Teacher on Netflix
Ramshorn squid (Spirula)
Credits
Theme – Hadal Zone Express by Märvel
Logo images:
The Atacama snailfish which is often published as the Mariana snailfish
The long-arm squid filmed by DSV Alvin, possibly an adult Magnapinna sp. Public Domain NOAA