11/7/2003: Newly discovered sea creature

Such a little cutie!

This sea creature lives 10,000 feet (6500 m) under the Pacific Ocean near Japan. The Japan Marine Science and Technology Center is apparently responsible for this picture of it.

There's still stuff we're finding out about this planet...

Wow thats cool!

Damn Tony I almost mailed you that but then I forgot about it. But, I figured you probably troll the Yahoo news most frequently emailed photos too! ;)

What struck me about it is that they give no info as to the scale of the picture. I assume it's not seven feet long (but who knows?), but is it an inch long? 4 inches? Is it microscopic? Yeah, I could probably find out. But I'm too lazy.

I just did a little reading, and it's about a meter long. So...

Originally posted by Undertoad
This sea creature lives 10,000 feet (6500 m) under the Pacific Ocean near Japan.

Was it the original story that said it was 6500m? 10 000ft works out to just more than 3000m.

looks a lot like stuff from that movie "the abyss" -

Are those Japanese harpoons sticking out all over?;)

I wonder if it boils up well...

Not sure if you'd wanna eat it... don't most creatures that glow emit radiation?

Originally posted by Stonan
Not sure if you'd wanna eat it... don't most creatures that glow emit radiation?

Nope, its bioluminescense (look ma, no spell checker!). Its a lot like the glow sticks people use for Halloween and concerts.

*Cliff Claven voice* - If I remember correctly, in WWII the Japanese used the glowing shell of a type of oyster or clam to read maps at night.


PS - found a linkphosphorescence

Originally posted by Stonan
Not sure if you'd wanna eat it...

Have some short thin asian person deliver it to your home in a paper box. Smothered in MSG and some sweet sauce I'm thinking it tastes just like chinese food. :D

Originally posted by richlevy
Nope, its bioluminescense (look ma, no spell checker!).

Now if only you'd remembered the apostrophe for the contraction "it's". :)

Punctuation Nazi. :p

Originally posted by dave


Now if only you'd remembered the apostrophe for the contraction "it's". :)

:eek3:

Is it jello? Or is it sushi?

It's Jellushi!

Even comes with its own chopsticks, apparently.

On the serious side, I imagine the feelers are sensory organs. But of what type? Smell? Touch? Passive electric field bio-radar? As those depths, even with bioluminesence, I don't imagine Sight works for much, unless the feelers are the substitute for eyeballs.

It is certainly strange.

In other news, Japanese Researchers announced that this is the fifth such creature they have attempted to photograph. It took three years to develop photographic film with enough sensititvity and speed in low light to capture this picture. Unfortunately, the previous four photographs were taken the Xenon flash *on*, during which the creature exploded like popcorn. :p

Unfortunately, the previous four photographs were taken the Xenon flash *on*, during which the creature exploded like popcorn.

      in which case we need video, not a still photo. Reminds of the video clip of the regular crab getting sucked into the 8mm(I think) cut in a pipe...

Originally posted by slang


Have some short thin asian person deliver it to your home in a paper box. Smothered in MSG and some sweet sauce I'm thinking it tastes just like chinese food. :D

Ever eat sea cucumber? That's extremely popular in Taiwan ... probably a lot like this thing ... or not. It tastes okay - I'm not a huge fan of it though. Sorry, couldn't find a pic of the prepared dish.
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Better not to let the majority of the Japanese populace aware of these "critters", they may be consumed for its aphrodeciac properties. :D

Originally posted by breakingnews

Ever eat sea cucumber? That's extremely popular in Taiwan ... probably a lot like this thing ... or not. It tastes okay - I'm not a huge fan of it though. Sorry, couldn't find a pic of the prepared dish.

Is that a theme ingredient from Iron Chef?

Sea Urchin was the ingredient on Sunday night's show.

I watched it. I thought using the shells as bowls was quite clever. I was very happy with Chen Kenichi's victory. He is my favorite Iron Chef.

(My name is Wolf and I'm an Iron Chef Junkie.)

I feel bad for Iron Chef Italian...they almost never pick the poor guy.

Poor Masahiko Kobe doesn't even get to rise into the Kitchen Stadium with the three main Iron Chefs. His entry is filmed separately, as you may have noticed. (about the only episode of Iron Chef that I haven't thoroughly enjoyed was the New York Battle ... Bobbie Flay is an idiot. I want Emeril to go up against them!)

FYI: Battle Sea Cucumber will be on Nov 15 at 10pm and Nov 16 at 2am

I don't mind Bobby Flay...it was cool when he won the rematch.

The one thing that disappoints me about the show is that Takeshi Kaga isn't really how they make him out to be.

Interesting that the fan site makes no mention of Iron Chef ...

I would love to see the Japanese version of Jesus Christ Superstar. At least I would have no trouble following the plot, even if I didn't know the words.

Torch Song Trilogy ... Kaga as the Fierstein character? Man, that must be something.

A lot of the roles he has done look at least interesting and speak to his dramatic range.