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Giant squid no longer loners of the deep

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The famous and elusive giant squid (Architeuthis Clarkei) may no longer be so hard to find.
Scientists at the Wellington National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research in New Zealand suspect there are thousands of the animals living in two breeding colonies off of the South Island. In the last 18 months, the group has recieved more dead specimines than have been found in the last decade elsewhere. NIWA had received 12 of the creatures, which weigh up to 650 pounds, with 18 foot long tentacles. This makes for an encouraging place to start looking for the Giant Squid, the great mystery of the deep, alive. The NIWA are hoping to photo or capture the first live Giant Squid ever.

Read the Globe and Mail article here

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Capturing giant squid alive will be tricky - like other deep-dwelling creatures, they're pressure-sensitive. At sea-level pressures, their nervous system doesn't work properly, and other problems manifest that kill them in fairly short order.

A good summary of this was in Discover magazine a while back; URL is:

http://www.discover.com/aug_01/featphysics.html

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