Squid ID?

A sperm whale I was swimming with dropped a small squid, photos posted on my blog. Anyone happen to know what kind it is?

http://www.tonywublog.com/20110414/squid-d...perm-whale.html

Thanks,

Tony

Hi Tony -- When are you going to stop playing around with those big swimmy things and get down to the good stuff like worms? ;-)

Contact Dr. Mark Norman at Museum Victoria, Australia. He wrote the book on id'ing cephalopods in general & from that part of the world in particular.

Cheers, Leslie

Thanks Leslie. I was going to write to Mark if my open plea didn't produce any results.

I was actually floating around looking for pelagic worms when this big whale swam up and plopped a squid in my hand...

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i really want it to be the juvenile form of the giant squid

Me too!

I was actually floating around looking for pelagic worms when this big whale swam up and plopped a squid in my hand...

If I believe that will you sell me a bridge in Brooklyn? ;-D

You'd be amazed at how many worms live there

I was actually floating around looking for pelagic worms when this big whale swam up and plopped a squid in my hand...

Now there's a signature quote if ever I saw it.

I hope you ate it after you photographed it. We wouldn't want that whale to be offended.

The squid was certainly fresh, but after my Architeuthis-tasting experience with Douglas Seifert (a foul experience...due mostly to the squid ), I'm somewhat hesitant to insert unidentified cephalopod parts in my mouth these days

Received a helpful note from Dr Mark Norman:

Looks like a squid from the family Chiroteuthidae. They are midwater squid that hang off ammonia pockets in the first pair of arms (the fatter ones) and dangle feeding tentacle lures below them. Might have been snapped up in a group or been an incidental catch. Seems a bit little to be a targeted feed for a sperm whale. Like us eating ants.