Colossal squid birthday special

Coming to you from an Airbnb, above a ski hire shop, next to a construction site in Ushuia, Argentina… It’s a very special episode as we continue to pester Antarctica.

Alan checks in from Barcelona for mysterious reasons. We’ll have to get the truth our of him in the future…

Lots is going on in the news; deep-sea fish keep turning up, including a little Melanocetus anglerfish - sometimes called a black seadevil. This has had a real impact on people. The media tried to call it a monster, but the people fell for this little fish. An orfish, the doomsday fish, also turns up, but is that really a sign of doom?

There’s a new giant isopod, and it’s named after Darth Vader - Bathy-normouse! We get excited about Beryllium-10 and ponder neutrinos.

But what we are here for today is a very special birthday. Our favorite and most elusive colossal squid, Mesonychoteuthis hamiltoni, has been described for 100 years but never seen in its natural environment! We are having a birthday bash for the big girl.

Joined by Kat Bolstad of the Auckland University of Technology, Squid Squad, we learn what we do and don’t know, as well as the project Thom and Kat came up with to try to find it.

We’re really trying to make this project self-sustaining, so we have started looking for ways to support the podcast. Here’s a link to our page on how to support us, from the free options to becoming a patron of the show. We want to say a huge thank you to those patrons who have already pledged to support us:

Luz, Caro Mclaren, Tadhg, Austin Horenkamp, Thora, Lindsey and Harrison

Thanks again for tuning in; we’ll deep-see you next time!

Check out our podcast merch here! Which now includes Alan’s beloved apron and a much anticipated new design...

Feel free to get in touch with us with questions or your own tales from the high seas on:

podcast@armatusoceanic.com

We’d love to actually play your voice so feel free to record a short audio note!

We are also on

Twitter: @DeepSeaPod

Facebook: DeepSeaPodcast

Instagram: @deepsea_podcast

Keep up with the team on social media Twitter:

Alan - @Hadalbloke

Thom - @ThomLinley

Instagram:

Thom - @thom.linley

BlueSky:

Thom - @deepseapod.com

Follow Kat on

Bluesky: @autsquidsquad.bsky.social

Twitter: @ALCESonline

Reference list News

Anglerfish

New York Times

Today

Beetle Moses cartoon

Orfish

Stranding

Doomsday fish paper

Vader isopod

Radioactive blip

KM3Net

Interview

Original colossal squid description

Pure Ocean Fund

Intrepid Travel

Auckland Aquarium - SEA LIFE Kelly Tarlton's Aquarium

Us testing the camera in the aquarium

Mantis Sub underwater housings

https://www.mantis-sub.com/

Otago University and the NZ Whale and Dolphin Trust

Importance in sperm whale diet

Colossal and giant squid eyes

Toothfish predation by colossal squid one and two

Whales vs squid arms race

Ceph Ref and GoFundMe

Glossery

Umwelt - the sensory world an animal lives in.

Intraspecific - between the same species

Interspecific - between different species

Credits

Theme – Hadal Zone Express by Märvel

Logo image: Thom Linley

Happy birthday: The guests aboard the Ocean Endeavour

Poem: One of our patrons, Tadhg

Timestamps/ chapters

00:00:00 - Intro

00:05:55 - News

00:21:35 - Interview - Colossal squid

01:08:00 - Outro