http://cache.io9.com/assets/base/img/thumbs140x140/io9.com.png http://io9.com/tag/giant squid http://io9.com/tag/giant squid

Symmetry is beautiful, right? People with symmetric faces are considered more attractive. Almost all animals have symmetrical bodies. Self-help books always blather on about 'symmetry and balance'. But when you hunt under water, does symmetry become a hindrance? More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5833279&view=rss&microfeed=true

Last Sunday, fisherman 12 miles off the coast of Stuart, Flordia found themselves with a mollusk of a tale to tell some folks — they had hooked a specimen of Architeuthis Dux, or the Atlantic Giant Squid. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5816266&view=rss&microfeed=true

When we think of cryptozoology, we usually think of Bigfoot, the Yeti, and the Loch Ness Monster, creatures that are - let's face it - probably legendary. But some cryptids are real: just ask the platypus, okapi, and giant squid. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5814976&view=rss&microfeed=true

A dead four-meter-long giant squid washed up on a beach today in Wellington, New Zealand. The creature eventually drifted back out to sea, but not before locals had the opportunity to snap photos of the beached beast. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5607484&view=rss&microfeed=true

Clash of the Titans brought the kraken back into popular consciousness, but a ship-eating leviathan doesn't have the same zing in 2010. No, we need a real-life marine horror to keep us off the beach. Here are our candidates. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5514544&view=rss&microfeed=true

A kraken of the deep is going Beverly Hills. Celebrity taxidermist Gunther von Hagens has plastinated two giant squids. One of these silicon-enhanced squids is slated to tour with von Hagen's Body Worlds exhibit. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5488429&view=rss&microfeed=true

Steve O'Shea already holds a world record for rearing squid in a controlled environment. But everybody's got a dream, and O'Shea's is to do the same thing one day with the famously elusive giant squid. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5476317&view=rss&microfeed=true

With less than two weeks to go before Watchmen opens, anticipation for the movie is at fever pitch... which only makes us wonder what will happen if the movie isn't what everyone is waiting for. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5157181&view=rss&microfeed=true

A remote-controlled underwater vehicle exploring the area around an oil platform off the coast of Mexico met this strange giant sea creature about a mile and a half below the surface. With ten legs dangling from what look like elbow joints, it was a pretty shocking sight to the vehicle operators. They captured this footage about a year ago, and passed it around via e-mail until somebody finally explained what it was. Called Magnapinna, these relatives of the squid have only been spotted a handful of times by vehicles like the one that recorded it here. Four of their bodies have been recovered by researchers, but were so badly damaged that it was hard for scientists to figure out their anatomy. What we do know is that they can grow to about 23 feet in length, about half the size of the biggest giant squid, and they have 10 long legs (instead of the normal squid setup of 8 short legs and 2 big tentacles). Nobody is sure why their legs have that elbow-like crook in them, but researchers speculate that it could be to keep the legs from tangling as the creature drifts along catching prey in its long, long tentacles. Apparently these creatures are quite common in the dark depths of the ocean below 4,000 feet, and there are perhaps four subspecies. So maybe this is the long-lost relative of the Cloverfield monster? Alien-Like Squid with Elbows Filmed at Drilling Site [via National Geographic] More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5098936&view=rss&microfeed=true

"Wheke," the giant calamari that invaded New Zealand in January 2000, went on display in Paris today. The massive tentacles almost make Wheke look like a space marauder or crazed mutant by themselves, but they're not what make him science-fictional. Rather, it's the process used to preserve Wheke so he can go on display for years to come: he's the first creature to be "plastinated," meaning that he was totally dehydrated and all fluids were replaced by a special plastic resin. The next step: to create a living plastic, so plastinated creatures can continue to move and even think. Click through for a gallery of Wheke pictures. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=372177&view=rss&microfeed=true

Every summer since 2002, the waters off the West coast die. And then the giant squids come. It's all thanks to global warming, which causes massive "low oxygen zones" off the coast, in which almost everything in the water dies off due to oxygen starvation. It's already too late to reverse the ocean's "George Romero Tribute," but it's good news for the huge Humboldt squids. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=357334&view=rss&microfeed=true

A new queer zine mixes science fiction legend Ursula K. LeGuin and bondage-porn czar Michael Manning into a heady concoction. The Gay Utopia, an "online symposium," includes a poem by LeGuin and an article (with NSFW pics) on Manning's art. It also includes a hilarious Q&A with a giant squid, an insect-sex-zombie apocalypse and "erotic mind-control fiction." Good times! More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=346725&view=rss&microfeed=true