Left Side of the Aisle #90 - Part 5

And Another Thing: video of giant squid obtained

And Another Thing is our occasional detour into things not expressly political. Usually it's some cool science thing - which is the case here.

For centuries, tales of sea monsters like the Kraken, giant squids with their tentacles pulling sailors or even whole ships under the water were told in hushed tones. For some time, scientists doubted that such creatures existed - and even until relatively recently, most of the knowledge of them was based on carcases that had washed ashore or a few that had been tangled in nets or lines and dragged to the surface. It was only a few years ago that pictures of a giant squid in its natural habitat far below the surface of the ocean were obtained.

And now, for the first time ever, scientists have obtained video footage of a giant squid in its natural habitat.

You want to know what a giant squid looks like? It looks like this. And close up, it looks like this.

The squid caught on video is 9 feet long, but it is also missing its two longest tentacles. If those tentacles were still intact, the squid could have measured as much as 26 feet in length.

The research team used a smaller squid as bait and for the first time also used a lure that mimics the bioluminescent display of a jellyfish to attract the giant squid's attention. That's because the squid is a visual predator with an eye bigger than your head. Which also is why they've been so hard to track: You go down with your bright lights so you can see what's going on - and it seems you and stays away.

This time, researchers found a giant squid just over 2000 feet below sea level and tracked it down to nearly 3000 feet below before losing it in the darkness.

Members of the team said they were "amazed at what it looked like." One said it was "shining and so beautiful." Another said "It looked carved out of metal. And it would change from being silver to gold. It was just breathtaking."

The video will be released on January 27, shown on the Discovery Channel. I'll be watching.

Sources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giant_squid
http://www.latimes.com/business/technology/la-fi-tn-giant-squid-video-20130107,0,2853791.story
http://dsc.discovery.com/show-news/giant-squid-captured-on-video-for-first-time.html