giant sotong

read on internet news about Japanese marine biologists managing to capture first-ever live footage of Giant Squid in deep sea. They even got a live sample of the arm of a squid when the arm broke off while tackling the bait.

Clyde Roper, who works on the Giant Squid, visited RMBR in 2003 and gave a public talk in NUS. I attended the talk which was very well attended by NUS undergrads, students and interested members of the public.

I came across his display of the Giant Squid in the Smithsonian (middle pic) when I visited DC in 2004. I recognised the display from Clyde's slides from the lecture. There was a huge pickled specimen of the squid on display (above). You can imagine how big the animal was when alive and kicking!

lest you're wondering about the typical Singaporean question: can eat or not? unfortunately there might not be Giant Calamari rings or Sambal Giant Sotong, Clyde told us during the Q&A (yes, someone got ask!) that Giant Squid is inedible due to the strong ammonia smell in the tissue.