Te Papa’s Blog

We’ve had time to catch up on a few things today . . . the lab is almost cleared of our equipment and Anton has begun moving things in for tomorrow’s dissection of a juvenile pygmy right whale.

Here we are adding formalin to the storage tank to bring the concentration up to 5%. The formalin is then buffered to stop any acidity corroding the hooks of the specimen.

A plastic liner is placed over the top of the tank before the wooden lid is replaced.

Finally the pH (acidity) is checked - it will be checked every three days until the specimen is fully fixed at the end of the month.

First recording

The Science Express evening with Steve O’Shea has been recorded (audio only) and is now available at this address:
http://www.tepapa.govt.nz/ScienceExpress/ScienceExpress.May.2008.Colossal.Squid.mp3

> More about Science Express and recordings of the previous sessions

The other lectures have been filmed and will be available in the middle of next week, provided we are able to edit them fast enough.

First videos

Discovery Channel, who have been supporting us in the preservation of the colossal squid specimen, have edited videos and gathered resources on their news website.

http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2008/05/01/colossal-squid.html
http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2008/05/01/colossal-squid-gigantism.html
http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2008/04/30/squid-question-answer.html

And here are some other squid things we have seen around and you might also like

Squid satire

Courtesy of Scoop: http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0805/S00013.htm

Some Youtube videos

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JSBDoCoJTZg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K1sdmAkJB1Q
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ddBRp6V064

Now that we have some time, we will upload some of the other photos taken.

Dr Tsunemi Kubodera, Steve O’Shea and Olaf Blaauw examine the smaller, damaged colossal squid on Tuesday, 29th April. Below are some of the close ups of the tentacles, suckers and hooks.

You can find out more about the hooks and suckers here
http://blog.tepapa.govt.nz/2008/04/30/hooks-and-suckers/

This one comes from Angela in Otago, where she has celebrated our squid in a very yummy manner!

Hi!
My friend Mila replied to my post on Wednesday about what the squid felt like. Here she is:

She has also since sent me a wonderful poem she wrote about the colossal squid:

I love her picture of the squid - it rocks!

cheers
Emma - the squid toucher

Things are never, ever dull at Te Papa! Next week we have another team of international scientists coming to examine a pygmy right whale specimen. This small whale (Caperea marginata) stranded on 13 May 2007 in the far north of New Zealand.

> Follow the story of this examination blogged live

Pygmy right whales are one of the smallest baleen whales. They are a southern hemisphere species, found most often around New Zealand and southern Australia.

In 1997 Te Papa hosted a major dissection of this species. Recently scientists have become very interested in how pygmy right whales fit into the picture of whale evolution.

Anton van Helden, Te Papa’s Marine Mammal scientist, will be joined by four whale scientists from around the world to dissect the pygmy right whale:

• Dr Catherine Kemper from The South Australian Museum, Adelaide - the world’s leading authority on pygmy right whales.

• Dr Ewan Fordyce from Otago University, Dunedin - an anatomist and palaeontologist who specialises in whale evolution.

• Dr Joy Reidenberg, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York - also an anatomist, who is interested in sound production and breathing in baleen whales.

• Dr Sentiel ‘Butch’ Rommel, University of North Carolina, who took part in the 1997 pygmy right whale dissection. His research interests include mapping the skeleton and associated tissues of whale species.

We hope to bring you some live blog posts - and images - from the pygmy right whale dissection next week.

> Follow the story of this examination blogged live

Special whales talk
Wednesday 7 May, 6.30pm – 8.30pm
The team of international whale scientists will talk about their work and recent discoveries at a special event organised by Friends of Te Papa.

Telstra Clear Centre, Level 3 at Te Papa. Free entry.

LIMITED SEATING – REGISTRATION ESSENTIAL
To reserve a place please phone the Friends office (04) 381 7051 or email friends@tepapa.govt.nz

Several people have asked why the water went from a clean, clear, inviting bath to a rather horrible-looking soup over the course of the squid defrosting. 

The answer is that a number of frozen fluids in the ice block were gradually released into the brine. The first unsalubrious additive was a yellow slurry of fish waste that had gotten mixed into the ice cake on top of the squid, in a layer about 10cm thick. As we examined and dissected the smaller colossal and the giant squid, some of their body fluids (ink and leakage from the digestive gland - sorry you asked yes?) also inevitably got mixed into the main tank from our waders, in spite of being rinsed. 

Because we have not dissected the large colossal specimen, we don’t know what condition its internal organs are in, but it is likely that similar fluids (in higher volumes) would also have been released into the brine as it defrosted, plus haemolymph (the squid’s blue, copper-based ‘blood’). 

As a cranchiid, Mesonychoteuthis also possesses a large sac within the mantle (the coelom) filled with ammonium chloride to assist its buoyancy.  This may also have leaked into the tank.  Finally, by the time the innermost ice had melted, the outermost parts of the specimen had been defrosted for over 36 hours and had entered the very early stages of decomposition.  The bacteria present would have begun to break down the tissues and also release chemicals and compounds into the water. 

This does not mean, however, that parts of the specimen have rotted - we were able to add the formalin at a time when all parts of the squid were thawed and in good condition.  If the squid had defrosted in air, the outer parts would certainly have rotted before we even saw the inside, so the cooled brine solution worked well - even if we had to wade through squid soup by the end. 

- Kat Bolstad

Here it is - what I call the money shot - this was taken before they started the preservation process.

Here’s a link to an explanation of the preservation process.
http://blog.tepapa.govt.nz/?s=formalin

It is all quiet in the examination room - as the preservation process continues - it will take up to a month for the formalin to do its work.

Hey thanks for responding with which photos you are after. I will try my best to get you the ones you want. Monty, I think you asked ïf you could browse thumbnails - maybe a Flickr site might be a good idea but I will have to check with the powers that be!

In the meantime here is the beak and the eye - I’ll do the muscles in a new post.

Beak of large Colossal Squid
Also see Kat’s great post on this -

http://blog.tepapa.govt.nz/2008/04/30/whats-all-this-beak-business/

Eye of large Colossal Squid
See Eric’s great post on the eye

http://blog.tepapa.govt.nz/2008/04/30/the-eye/