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Originally Posted by fisheye
Did you play the video in the original link? It is actually the third picture of the egg as you move down the article. In the video it looks as if the diver is approaching from the front right side of the egg. I am more than aware of perspective; I am a also a fisherman and we know how take pictures of our catch!
The article mentions that it is a giant squid egg; but we do not know how they are using the term 'giant'? Then it goes on to talk about smaller squid eggs. What we really need is another article. Perhaps the National Geographic will use some of this film (with permission) and fill in the missing pieces? It would be interesting to find out if one squid produced this 'egg mass' or if more than one come together to form one?
By the way I just found this article on The Daily Mail : https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencet...med-squid.html. In that they state: "The orb was a massive 13-feet wide and contained millions of squid eggs according to National Geographic, who highlighted the find at the time." But then they were also talking about another blob that was found in Turkey; so that could also use clarification. Plus the Daily Mail is a little prone for exaggeration; so I don't know.
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First of all, I have to apologize for not including links to my post. Yes, I did see the video. Some of the information I used for the size was also included in the link in your original post. I saw a few other articles about it as well, including ScienceAlert. I agree, some of the different articles seem to vary in information. We need something a little more reliable.
From the Daily Mail link you posted, the impression I got is that had to do with a different type of squid, thought to be from the Red Flying Squid with millions of eggs off the coast of Turkey in 2015. That was presumably from a National Geographic article, as you mentioned. The recent discovery (shown in the video), cited in the MSN article, indicates it was off the coast of Norway. I also read where this (as in the video) was one of about 5 discovered in the area of Norway, this one being the largest. I agree the Daily Mail can exaggerate things. National Geographic has done that as well or word things that aren't clear. Was National Geographic talking about the Southern Shortfin Squid? Or other types of squid?
One of the articles indicated that the mass is suspected to be from the Southern Shortfin Squid which are found in the North Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea. This blob had not been genetically tested but it looks similar. Others (I assume around Turkey) had been tested and were determined to be Southern Shortfin Squid. So it's not really certain that this recent one is the same squid or another type. Regardless, seeing it is a rare encounter. As I understand it, the gelatinous layer collapses and sinks to the ocean floor where it quickly dissolves.
It would be interesting to know if all those eggs came from a single female or from many. If it was a single female, I suspect it takes a fair amount of time to excrete that much material, although it appears to be very thin. Another article mentioned egg numbers of other gelatinous globs can range from 50,000 to as many as a million or so eggs, while another drops the figure to around 43,000 from a single squid. That's close to 50,000 though. I don't think anyone was making a nose count other than to indicate there were an enormous number of eggs inside these things.
One thing I just discovered is that male squids usually die shortly after mating, and the females die of starvation after releasing the eggs. That's similar to the octopus. Reproducing is a one-time thing for these creatures, so they lay a large amount of eggs to ensure that some will survive long enough to reproduce. Once the eggs begin hatching, many will become food for fish and other sea creatures, including other squids.
https://sciencing.com/life-cycle-squid-5813188.html
According to this link, females can potentially breed more than once. Perhaps with different males? They're also said to have around 800,000 eggs. The whole thing is confusing.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illex_coindetii
https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/species/shortfin-squid-0