Architeuthis, how I missed thee

I've been a fan of mollusks for several years now. I'm not talking about the Monoplacophran, Aplacophoran or Polyplacophoran (though admittedly, Chitons do look badass), lazy slobs that lay around all day munching on crap or algae. Hell, the majority of the gastropods are kind of boring as well. The primary exception to the last sentence, would of course be the nudibranchs (see here as well), but others do exist outside the nudibranchs. As for the bivalves, who doesn't love the reproductive habits of the foul tasting Unionids? For the most part, Scaphopods are not terrible because of their lovely captacula, and I must say that the extinct intermediate group the Rostroconchs are a real treat as well. Really I'm just singling out the outstanding Cephalopds, masters of everything spineless. That's not to say that they are cowards, they just don't have any backbone.

Anyways, an article slipped by me recently that left me somewhat displeased with my own effort to keep up to date. After seeing this gem a while back, I've really been intrigued to see how the Japanese (or at least researchers in the Sea of Japan) plan to move on to the next phase- catching a live specimen. Suffice to say, wrangling a small specimen (25 feet) like the one in the above photogallery requires alot of skill, patience, power and a delicate touch.

Well, it turns out that it has been done. A live animal has been caught and photographed up close, but it died of its injuries in the battle to get it on board (literally, they are strong by oh so fragile, especially out of water). I know the first photo looks fake, but lets all just remember how some people cast doubt on the Colossal squid in the Sea of Ross even being real, but it certainly is. They do have a rather plasticy look to them, don't they?

I also somehow missed the photos of a live sperm whale with the remains of a giant squid in its mouth!! They confirmed this by actually collecting the tentacles strewn off this sample as the whale swam around like an idiot with its food in its mouth.

Well anyways, I guess that's it for my rambling about giant squid. I really hope that live samples are caught and raised in captivity so that I can see them. For all you who think it's cruel to have animals, especially large and intelligent ones like this, in captivity, you are absolutely correct. Does my desire to see them in person (and eat them in some occasions) outweigh their "lower quality of life"? You bet. Speaking of which, their "lowered quality of life" really isn't so bad- no predators while growing, all the free food you can eat and of course the low stress that goes along with it.