Tag Archives: Giant squid

A new giant squid specimen!

3 April 2009 – 8.56am

A three-metre giant squid specimen washed up on a beach on Wellington’s South Coast yesterday (2nd April).

In comparison with our colossal squid it’s a bit small, but because it’s small it’s interesting! Find out about the difference between Colossal and Giant squid.

The squid was found in shallow water by Alana Spragg and her daughter Bella who managed to drag it onto the beach. At just 3m long the squid is one of the smallest we’ve seen: this means that it is either a rarely seen male , or an even more rarely seen juvenile.

Collection manager of molluscs at Te Papa, Bruce Marshall noted that out of the last 50 giant squid we have received; only one has been a male.  The actual sex ratio is about 50:50, however,  as collectors favour the larger the largest specimens, which are invariably females. Juvenile giant squid are also rare in New Zealand waters – we don’t know where they go after they hatch and before they return to the breeding areas off the South Island.

Te papa's freezer - giant squid and other specimens awaiting processing.

Te papa's freezer - giant squid and other specimens awaiting processing.

The giant squid has been put in a freezer and will eventually be preserved for display. It is in fantastic condition – It looks like it has probably only been dead for a couple of hours. Its skin is perfect and the eyes, tentacles and beak all appear to be intact. The preservation process will start in about two months, because the preparation laboratory at Te Papa is being renovated.

The squid was reported in this morning’s newspaper:

http://www.stuff.co.nz/science/2311472/Giant-no-match-for-colossal-cousin

By chrispaulin | Posted in Colossal squid, Exhibitions | Also tagged , | Comments (0)

Colossal best wishes for the holidays from the squid

24 December 2008 – 11.21am

Kia ora koutou

It’s Christmas time at Te Papa and the team behind the colossal squid exhibition wishes squid fans everywhere  a happy and safe time over the holidays.

It’s been a colossal year in many ways – and we’ve finished it by bringing to you the only display in the world of a colossal squid.

We know some of you are disappointed that the squid isn’t bigger! Some of you think we’ve got a bigger and better colossal squid out the back somewhere.

But no! this is our biggest colossal squid. It’s not a giant squid remember. A giant squid is a completely different kind of  squid, called Architeuthis dux.

We think our colossal squid is big enough. She weighs 495 kilograms  – which is about 660 Christmas puddings or more than 1,000 pavlovas.

The colossal squid is also a special creature because at this time of year it  reminds us of the planet we share, the things we still have to discover about it and our need to care for it in the future.

Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year to everyone!

By pamelalovis | Posted in Colossal squid | Also tagged , , | Comments (6)

Lectures available

22 May 2008 – 3.09pm

Two of the lectures from the Te Papa squid lecture series are now available online:

Dr Steve O’Shea
Squid: Small, Giant, and Colossal 
http://www.r2.co.nz/20080520/steve.asx

Dr Eric Warrant and Dr Dan-Eric Nilsson:
The Weird and Wonderful Eyes of Animals Who Live in the Dark and the Deep Sea
http://www.r2.co.nz/20080520/eric.asx

 

 

We will unfortunately not be able to have other lectures online due to copyright issues.

By chrispaulin | Posted in Colossal squid | Also tagged , | Comments (1)

Pygmy right whale

2 May 2008 – 11.20am

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

By pamelalovis | Posted in Colossal squid, Pygmy right whale, Whales | Tohorā | Also tagged , , , | Comments (9)

What’s the smell like?

29 April 2008 – 1.00pm

A couple of people have asked what the smell is like in here – figuring it must smell pretty bad.

Surprisingly the smell is not bad at all. It smells a bit like a clean fish shop. You know there are fishy specimens about but it is a fresh smell.

The speicmens have all been properly frozen so they aren’t rotting – just defrosting. This is the reason that such care is being taken with the thaw process. The large colossal squid is SO big that it needs to be thawed in a cold environment – hence the cold tank -about 6 degrees Celcius. If the guys put it out in the sun then it would start to rot before the inside was thawed. Then it would smell pretty bad.

The giant is starting to give off some more ‘interesting fragrances’ – we do expect them to increase over the next day but it is not too bad.

We expect the giant squid will end up smelling more than the colossal squid because the colossal squid is nonammoniacal. The giant squid contains ammonia in all its tissues for buoyancy.

By chrispaulin | Posted in Colossal squid | Also tagged , | Comments (9)

Dissection of giant squid

29 April 2008 – 12.40pm

The dissection of the giant squid  – Steve O’Shea and Tsunemi Kubodera using the endoscope to examine the stomach to see if there are any contents before the specimen is cut open.

This is the gill – we are injecting ink into the blood vessels to show them more clearly:

Nidamental gland (arrow):

This specimen is a female, but is not fully mature – the nidamental glands are not fully developed. These glands produce the gelatinous material that holds the egg mass together.

The stomach (above), as with most giant squids caught, is completely empty apart from a few nematode parasites. One theory is that the giant squid are coming into New Zealand waters to breed and do not feed during this period.

The branchial heart can be seen at the center of this next image. The white globular tissue either side are the ovaries, and the large inflated structure at the bottom left is the caecum.

 

 

 

By chrispaulin | Posted in Colossal squid | Also tagged | Comments (12)

Beak size

29 April 2008 – 10.50am

While the large colossal squid thaws the scientists are continuing their examination of the other ‘smaller’ colossal and the giant squid.  Dr Kubodera with the beak of the giant squid:

By measuring beak size of these specimens, we can calculate the size of other specimens of beaks found in the stomachs of sperm whales – thus we will be able to calculate how big these squid can grow. Kat Bolstad and Mark Fenwick dissecting out the beak of the smaller colossal squid:

Dr O’Shea measuring the colossal squid beak. The buccal mass containing the head and tentacles has become separated from the mantle – making it easier to examine. Unfortunately the eyes are missing – the mystery continues….

(If you are experiencing some delays on the webcast it may be because of the volume of traffic – a short time ago there were 1,500 viewers online!)

By chrispaulin | Posted in Colossal squid | Also tagged , | Comments (7)

Audio on SquidCam

28 April 2008 – 6.18pm

Thanks for all the comments about audio. Sorry we didn’t have it straight away.

In response to all the comments we have arranged for audio in the examination room. It won’t be on 24/7 but we will try to make sure it’s there to help you keep track of what’s going on.

Note we’ve switched it off for the night to give the scientists a bit of privacy.

But we will have it up again in the morning. We’ll be experimenting with our feeds so please let us know what works for you!

This is a unique event for us, so please bear with us as we sort out technical details. We really appreciate your feedback.

By Te Papa | Posted in Colossal squid | Also tagged | Comments (15)

Colossal squid out of the freezer

28 April 2008 – 3.42pm

3.30 pm: the squid is now sitting in the thawing tank while we remove the tarpaulin and ropes around it. It will now be left overnight to thaw slowly. To keep the temperature even we will place the lid on the tank overnight, so there will not be a lot to see until tomorrow morning.

Two overhead hoists were used to lower the 490 kg block into the saline solution.

Once the specimen was lowered into the tank the strops were carefully removed and the thawing process begun.

 

By chrispaulin | Posted in Colossal squid | Also tagged | Comments (10)

Squid brain!

28 April 2008 – 3.33pm

The scientists are all gathered around to look at the beak and brain – the maximum weight of the brain is 22 grams and surrounds the oesophagus. The oesophagus is 11 mm in diametre, therefore everything it eats has to be chopped into tiny pieces as it has to pass through the brain!

 

 

 

By chrispaulin | Posted in Colossal squid | Also tagged , | Comments (14)
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