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Re: Hammerhead Shark in Scotland

From: Douglas Herdson <douglas.herdson~at~national-aquarium.co.uk>
Date: Wed, 14 Apr 2004 12:25:42 +0100
Resent-From: ithompson~at~geog.gla.ac.uk
Resent-date: Wed, 14 Apr 2004 14:36:15 +0100
To: "'Ian Thompson'" <ithompson~at~geog.gla.ac.uk>
Resent-Date: Wed, 14 Apr 2004 14:25:04 +0100

Dear Ian,
        I was intersted to hear that. Though Jules Verne did not do too badly on
the giant squid, as it was first described scientifically by Verill in 1873
or 1874. But Walt Disney got one thing (at least) wrong in the 1950s film -
the beak of the giant squid had the upper part larger and overlapping the
lower (as in a parrot) but in squid it is the other way round. Incidentally
we have the only specimen of a giant squid on exhiobition in the UK on show
here (missing its tentacles and only about 3 metres long). Below is the
piece I wrote four years ago for the children's page of our magazine, giving
the classic, but now disputed, story of the "discovery" of Architeuthis.

        cheers, Doug

Giant Squid

One day in October 1873 twelve year old Tom Piccot went out fishing with his
father and another man in Conception Bay on the coast of Newfoundland,
Canada. In the choppy waters they sighted what looked like a sail floating
on the water. They went over and when they stuck a hook into it, it raised
its head showing a large beak-like mouth and a mass of writhing tentacles.
It wrapped its tentacles around their boat and started to drag it below the
waves. They were sure that they were about to die. Young Tom seized a
small axe from in the boat and chopped off two of the tentacles. The squid
let out a tremendous squirt of ink and slipped away into the depths.
One of the tentacles cut off was an arm nineteen feet long and it was sent
to Dr Verrill at Harvard University in the USA. This was the first specimen
of Architeuthis, the giant squid, to be examined in a laboratory.

The giant squid is the largest known animal without a backbone. They can
grow to sixteen metres long and weigh 1800 kilograms (almost two tons!).
Usually they are only three metres in the body with tentacles up to seven
metres in length, but they do have the largest eye in the world. These can
be 20 centimetres in diameter.

Giant squid have really captured the public imagination and may be the
origin of many sea serpent stories. Captain Nemo and the Nautilus go
through many heart-stopping adventures in their voyage of Twenty Thousand
Leagues Under the Sea but the one that everyone remembers is the struggle
with the giant squid.

Douglas Herdson
Information Officer
National Marine Aquarium
Rope Walk
Coxside
Plymouth PL4 0LF
UK

Telephone: (+44)01752 275216/01752 600301
Fax: (+44)01752 275217
Email: Douglas.Herdson~at~national-aquarium.co.uk
website www.national-aquarium.co.uk




-----Original Message-----
From: Ian Thompson [mailto:ithompson~at~geog.gla.ac.uk]
Sent: 13 April 2004 09:50
To: douglas.herdson~at~national-aquarium.co.uk
Subject: Re: Hammerhead Shark in Scotland


Dear Douglas,
Thankyou so much for the fascinating detail on Hammerheads....it was most
kind of you. Clearly, of the large number of species of sharks and dogfish
to be found in UK waters, Verne obviously chose the least likely one to have
been encountered in the Clyde. I have reported this to the Jules Verne
Forum, the online discussion group of Verne scholars and enthusiasts.
Incidentally, in his best known book, 20,000 leagues under the sea Verne
lists a whole volume of fish and other marine species...in his Oxford
University Press translation, William Butcher has drawn attention to the
large number of errors in Verne's descriptions of marine biology.
Again,
many thanks,
Ian.


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Received on Wed 14 Apr 2004 - 17:45:25 IDT

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