Wednesday, September 28, 2005

a great day for science


For decades, scientists and sea explorers have mounted costly expeditions to hunt down and photograph the giant squid, a legendary monster with eyes the size of dinner plates and a nightmarish tangle of tentacles lined with long rows of sucker pads.

....

But in an article to be published Wednesday in a leading British biological journal, two Japanese scientists, Tsunemi Kubodera and Kyoichi Mori, report that they have made the world's first observations of a giant squid in the wild.

Working some 600 miles south of Tokyo off the Bonin Islands, known in Japan as the Ogasawara Islands, they managed to photograph the creature with a robotic camera at a depth of 3,000 feet. During a struggle lasting more than four hours, the 26-foot-long animal took the proffered bait and eventually broke free, leaving behind an 18-foot length of tentacle.

Read the whole thing here. I am very excited about this. We can lay aside our theological differences, and all rally 'round this momentous day in the history of science!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thanks for including the great photo with the article. I was worried we may not get to see an actual picture! Zounds! This is amazingly important news! MMBX

Adam said...

That is way cool! I have seen images of the chunks and sections of the ones they found dead, but live! Whoa!