h a l f b a k e r yThe embarrassing drunkard uncle of invention.
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Yes, yes, cloning, blah, blah, very bad, silly, fishbone, fishbone.
This is, however, a serious suggestion.
It is nearly impossibe to study Giant Squid (Architeuthis) in the wild, as their habitat is the very deep ocean. Sadly, also, bringing one to the surface usually kills it. One living specimen
has been caught but it didn't live long.
It would be fascinating to be able to study such a creature in an aquarium, and also be an amazing visitor attarction.
Since cephalopods are a mollusc, for which reproductive cloning is a relatively well developed technique (they are invertibrates) it should be possible to take a nucleus from a giant squid cell and introduce it into the egg of a large but accessible squid, for instance the Humbolt squid, an agressive predator which lives near the surface off the west coast of Mexico and California; the alternative might be the egg of a Pacific Octopus.
Although the process might be wasteful, once a living baby giant squid has been hatched, all that is necessary to do is keep feeding it, and wait, while buiding a succession of bigger and bigger aquaria.
The only other problem may be to prevent Squiddy being stolen by agents of some shadowy Government agency who want to train him as some outlandish anti-submarine weapon ...
(?) meet the neighbors
http://www.thejamja...ages/GiantSquid.jpg
[Amos Kito, Apr 02 2008]
Not real. I just like the picture.
http://wildonesonli...fish-deep-ocean.htm
[2 fries shy of a happy meal, Apr 03 2008]
[link]
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Unusually, the objection to this idea isn't the cloning, but building a big enough aquarium. Maybe a fenced off bit of sea might be more appropriate? |
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Well, that might be good during the growing phase. But one the squid is fully grown, it would be nice to be able to see it. which would be easier in a transparent aquarium. In a true marine environment, it would probably spend most of its time lurking on thr bottom. |
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One of those underwter perspex tunnels or a viewing gallery might work, though. Squid are highly intelligent, and could be lured to the observation point by feeding at specific times, possibly with an associated signal. |
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//in a transparent aquarium//
They're the best kind - I really hate the opaque ones. |
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Very true. Somehow it's unlikely that human-squid interactions on this scale are going to be "touchy-feely" unless it's in a rather negative sense ..... normally, it's the humans that eat the squid.... |
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I like it [8th] and I agree that it is
certainly achievable, but, the study of
such a creature so detached from its
natural environment would yield
inaccurate, nay, erroneous results. The
vast multitude of these species' behaviours are a direct result of their
dark and extremely high-pressure
environments. By growing them outside
these elements you're effectively
making a new creature; a bit like a
study of a wild leopard but conducted
on a domestic cat, in a cage, on
antibiotics. Possibly on a respirator too.
And its blind and deaf. |
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Anyway, what's needed is the
underwater construction of an aquarium
that can withstand enormous pressure
from both the outside and the inside. A
pressurised container that we can then
bring to the surface. Apart form the fact
that we'd blind everything in the tank
when we brought it up we could at least
look at them at the zoo through some
plexiglass and go, "Ooooh! Pretty!" |
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I would be satisfied to see a Humboldt
squid in a tank. They are not so rare. I
think they might be tough to keep. |
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Why not put a Humboldt squid in a cylindrical tank? The lensing would make it appear to be a giant squid... |
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<sits waiting for someone to post "fake giant squid magnifying aquarium" idea> |
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The live giant squid could be "viewed" using image intensifiers and very low light levels. The high pressure environment is probably not an issue. And pulling more of them from the deep ocean is a very bad idea since the brreding population is unknown. This sceme requres only a small amount of viable sqid tissue which could probably be obtained with very little or no harm to the donor. |
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I agree with you're idea very good and very possible.The only way to to it would be to build an observation station at sea something like in the movie deep blue sea because the squids cannot live at surface pressure and there is no current way of successfully raising the squid in captivity |
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(Just picturing the mature giant squid overrunning the observation station...) |
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Wow... this would make an excellent execution device! |
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It would give executioners a great chance to practice their best pirate accent, poking and prodding the prisoner towards his most entertaining doom at the end of a plank. |
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Arrrr, a [+] for tampering with nature and amusing the kiddies. |
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I, for one, welcome our new Giant Squid overlords, and would like to remind them that I can be very useful in training people for their underwater farms. |
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Mmmmmyes. But consider the size of the frying pan ..... and the smell of garlic; whole areas could be rendered uninhabitable for days .... |
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Don't forget the lemons! Calamari simply cannot be consumed by civilized people without freshly-squeezed lemon juice. It shouldn't take more than a bushel. Or two. |
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Not to mention how many mouths a giant squid could feed if it were genetically modified with the butter gene. <licks lips tastefully> |
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It's slightly disturbing that an idea which began as a proposal to study a giant marine mollusc has evolved in a relatively short time into an orgy of culinary excess aimed at the very creature the original idea was meant to benefit ...... |
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Yes, but eventually the study of said creature would involve its death and subsequent autopsy, which we're just looking forward to so very hungrily... |
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Eating will always be more popular than science. |
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//It's slightly disturbing that an idea which began as a proposal to study a giant marine mollusc has evolved in a relatively short time into an orgy of culinary excess aimed at the very creature the original idea was meant to benefit ......// |
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It was your idea to introduce a new food source into the human population though. Can't we use this for the study of predator prey models where the squid is the prey and we are the predator? |
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Confronted by a glaring mob of slavering, eager halfbakers, with white napkins round their necks and clutching knives and forks, it seems there is little option but to aquiesce .... go on then, predate .... |
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ha ha ha. How the best intentions are sullied by the mob... |
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//the smell of garlic; whole areas could be rendered uninhabitable for days ....// |
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That's ok. We'll just call that area France. |
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I understand that giant squid are inedible. Their flesh is full of ammonium chloride crystals. Maybe it has to do with buoyancy control? I read that in Richard Ellis' book. |
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It occurs to me that Danes might like giant squid meat. They eat that Double Salt licorice with ammonium chloride. |
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// Danes might like giant squid meat // |
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The Scandinavian nation, or the breed of dog ? Or both ? |
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No doubt the Japanese would delight to eat it, if it tasted awful, and came from a creature on the verge of extinction. |
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"every conversation will, in time, descend to its lowest common denominator." |
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I saw something on the animal channel that shocked me today. There was a dead Big Blue Wale that was floating in the ocean, and it was completely gobbled down in a matter of minutes by a big swarm of White Sharks. That image in my head is what I think the halfbakers and myself would probably do to to your Big White Squid if we had the chance. You better perform your experiments in a top secret place where no baker has ever gone before, if there is such a place. |
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Inside {Treon]'s head then .... a large empty space, devoid of intelligent life. |
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I thought that they were already able to catch 1/2" long larvae of the giant squid, but they don't know how to keep them alive. |
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[8th] Just out of curiosity, do you have
links for the bit about cephalopod/mollusc
cloning being well-developed? |
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