Ever tasted giant squid?
Neither have I, but I was offered a chance to try it by my friend, sperm whale scientist Kyoichi Mori, from the Ogasawara Whale Watch Association, in Japan. Last September, Mori and his colleague Tsunemi Kubodera from the National Science Museum in Tokyo became the first to observe a giant squid in the wild, off the Ogasawara Islands, 1300 km south of Tokyo. National Geographic had spent millions of dollars to try to find and photograph giant squid off Kaikoura, New Zealand, without success, but these two Japanese scientists cleverly and quietly managed it on a very low budget. On the long ferry journey between Tokyo and Ogasawara, Mori showed us the complete NHK film – a 2-hour documentary masterpiece that followed the project from the beginning. To view the original scientific paper, supplementary material and great photos, click here. Kubodera and Mori found the giant squid to be not exactly the shy, retiring animal as had been supposed, but surprisingly aggressive.
While we were in the islands, Mori san told us about the giant squid tentacle kept in his freezer. How did he get it? One tentacle had become entangled on the bait line and the animal had lost that tentacle when it swam away. Besides being fairly rare, giant squid is reportedly very salty and thus unlikely to gain a foothold anytime soon among calamari lovers.
© 2006 Erich Hoyt.
Illustration © 2005 Pieter Folkens from the Marine Mammals of Japan waterproof guide.
Tuesday, 9 May 2006
Tastes great!!