Freethought & Rationalism Archive

Arken · 07-02-2003, 06:39 AM

Full article: http://www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/americ...eut/index.html

Quote:

SANTIAGO, Chile (Reuters) -- Chilean scientists were baffled on Tuesday by a huge, gelatinous sea creature found washed up on the southern Pacific coast and were seeking international help identifying the mystery specimen.

The dead creature was mistaken for a beached whale when first reported about a week ago, but experts who went to see it said the 40-foot-long (12-meter) mass of decomposing lumpy grey flesh apparently was an invertebrate.

"We'd never before seen such a strange specimen, We don't know if it might be a giant squid that is missing some of its parts or maybe it's a new species," said Elsa Cabrera, a marine biologist and director of the Center for Cetacean Conservation in Santiago.

Photographs showed a round leathery substance like a mammoth jelly fish, about as long as a school bus.

So they are admitting it could be a giant squid, but I've never heard of architeuthis or any of its other huge relatives being found in South America before and this sounds even bigger than the recently-discovered colossal squid species. The possibility that it is a giant jellyfish is intriguing to say the least. Do we have anyone here who can shed more light on this discovery?

Mecha_Dude · 07-02-2003, 09:21 AM

Interesting, too bad there aren't any pictures.. IIRC there already are giant jellyfish, they're bodies aren't this big though (unblrella is about 2 meters), just the huge tentacles...

tribalbeeyatch · 07-02-2003, 10:06 AM

Hmmm...I see a picture at that link. Maybe they added one recently? At any rate, I certainly can't identify it...although I'm reminded of the movie The Blob...

Lobstrosity · 07-02-2003, 04:37 PM

Yahoo news provides some pictures.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmp...e_science_dc_2

MortalWombat · 07-03-2003, 08:51 AM

I suppose they will be doing some DNA testing on it.

Arken · 07-03-2003, 09:37 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by MortalWombat
I suppose they will be doing some DNA testing on it.

I hope so. I'm just worried we'll never hear about this again and never find out what the results were.

Duck! · 07-03-2003, 05:40 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Arken
I hope so. I'm just worried we'll never hear about this again and never find out what the results were.

This was on the news on Irish TV tonight. They said that it hadn't a backbone so it wasn't a whale or any species of vertebrate, but that it might have been some sort of gigantic octopus or squid.

Surely someone's gonna take a sample and DNA test it. I don't know how DNA testing works, but surely there's databases available to compare it with and determine if it's mammal, fish, giant octopus, etc. ?

Do research institutes and universities keep DNA databases to compare new tissue samples with? I'd be surprised if they didn't.

Duck!

NonHomogenized · 07-03-2003, 05:45 PM

Heh. I'd been wondering what happened to Jesse Helms.

Seriously, this looks interesting. I'd presume it's a giant squid, myself. That would either mean that this one got rather far outside of their usual habitat, which I would think is somewhat unlikely, or they have a larger habitat than was previously thought (or this is a previously unknown species of giant squid, but, as I don't know much about the conditions near South America compared to their usual habitats, so I could be violating Occam's Razor with that hypothesis). Regardless, the results of the investigation should prove interesting.

greenbear · 07-03-2003, 08:36 PM

Whatever it turns out to be, you can be sure the Creationist crowd is busy thinking up an anti-evolution spin for it.

Azathoth · 07-04-2003, 03:58 AM

Well,now,it could be the infamous colossal squid.It did wash up in chile,so it is possible that the creature died,and then floated onto the beach.

Colossal squid are interesting predators,and I would be willing to wager they could,and would attack,and eat,a human that they came across.They hunt Patagonian Toothfish,which are about that size.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/2910849.stm

However,in no case is this a shedded skin from someone who may be waking from an eons-long slumber.

So if any of you people are arming yourselves with Elder Signs,you can put them away.There's nothing to worry about.

Heck,I'd even go so far as to throw the pesky things out.I've heard they cause all sorts of nastiness,like cancer,or SARS.

Thread Tools	Search this Thread
Show Printable Version	Search this Thread: Advanced Search

07-02-2003, 09:21 AM	#2
Mecha_Dude Veteran Member Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Everywhere... I'm Watching you... Posts: 1,019	Interesting, too bad there aren't any pictures.. IIRC there already are giant jellyfish, they're bodies aren't this big though (unblrella is about 2 meters), just the huge tentacles...

07-02-2003, 10:06 AM	#3
tribalbeeyatch Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2001 Location: On the edge Posts: 509	Hmmm...I see a picture at that link. Maybe they added one recently? At any rate, I certainly can't identify it...although I'm reminded of the movie The Blob...

07-02-2003, 04:37 PM	#4
Lobstrosity Senior Member Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: San Diego, California Posts: 719	Yahoo news provides some pictures. http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmp...e_science_dc_2

07-03-2003, 08:51 AM	#5
MortalWombat Veteran Member Join Date: Apr 2001 Location: St Louis area Posts: 3,458	I suppose they will be doing some DNA testing on it.

07-03-2003, 05:45 PM	#8
NonHomogenized Veteran Member Join Date: May 2003 Location: no longer at IIDB Posts: 1,644	Heh. I'd been wondering what happened to Jesse Helms. Seriously, this looks interesting. I'd presume it's a giant squid, myself. That would either mean that this one got rather far outside of their usual habitat, which I would think is somewhat unlikely, or they have a larger habitat than was previously thought (or this is a previously unknown species of giant squid, but, as I don't know much about the conditions near South America compared to their usual habitats, so I could be violating Occam's Razor with that hypothesis). Regardless, the results of the investigation should prove interesting.

07-03-2003, 08:36 PM	#9
greenbear Senior Member Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Six Flags Posts: 906	Whatever it turns out to be, you can be sure the Creationist crowd is busy thinking up an anti-evolution spin for it.

07-04-2003, 03:58 AM	#10
Azathoth Veteran Member Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: The centre of infinity Posts: 1,181	Well,now,it could be the infamous colossal squid.It did wash up in chile,so it is possible that the creature died,and then floated onto the beach. Colossal squid are interesting predators,and I would be willing to wager they could,and would attack,and eat,a human that they came across.They hunt Patagonian Toothfish,which are about that size. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/2910849.stm However,in no case is this a shedded skin from someone who may be waking from an eons-long slumber. So if any of you people are arming yourselves with Elder Signs,you can put them away.There's nothing to worry about. Heck,I'd even go so far as to throw the pesky things out.I've heard they cause all sorts of nastiness,like cancer,or SARS.

Freethought & Rationalism Archive

The archives are read only.