Yikes! Somebody found a dead five-to-six hundred pound manta ray, with a wingspan of 11 feet, on a beach in Salem, MA. Apparently it took six guys to haul the thing onto a dock so scientists could poke at it. The picture in the Local 6 News article is sort of disappointing, so here is a better one (link):

Damn, that thing is big! There are some more pictures here. 

Via Local 6 News

Thanks, Jess!

The "Comments" section for this video is worth looking into, if only for this glib little nugget:

• WHAT WE FEEL

  
  04/27/2007by
  dawnpaz54@sbcglobal.net

  IT
  DOES NT MATTER WHAT ANY ONE SAYS ABOUT THIS , ITS HOW IT MAKES US FEEL
  AS PEOPLE AND INDIVIDUALS, SOME TIMES WE SEPPERATE FROM WHATEVER IT
  MIGHT BE, BUT WE ALWAYS RETURN TO WHATS RIGHT.

I feel you, bro.
 

Photo credit Paul Riley, Via Indianapolis Zoo Dolphin Adventure Online Media Kit. 

According to the New York Times, a young whale somehow wandered into the Gowanus Canal here in Brooklyn:

The animal, described as a juvenile minke whale about 15 feet long, was
cruising around Gowanus Bay, the outlet from the mile-long Gowanus
Canal in Brooklyn. It appeared to be in good health and not distressed,
said Kim Durham, rescue program director for the Riverhead Foundation
for Marine Research and Preservation.

 Apparently the whale is OK, despite all of the pollution in the canal. And it’s really, really polluted, so polluted that the Whole Foods supermarket planned for the area (still!) can’t be built until an extensive cleanup occurs. Gowanus Lounge has more on the whale, as well as links to some video footage.

 Aah, beautiful Gowanus.

Via NYT & Gowanus Lounge
 

Buy at MULE Design

According to this article (San Jose Mercury News) giant "Humboldt" squid are infesting the waters of southern California:

It has probing arms and
tooth-lined tentacles, a raptor-like beak and an insatiable craving for flesh - any kind of flesh, even that of humans. It shows up briefly off California every four or five years, spurred by a warm current or some other anomaly, providing a boon for sportfishing businesses.

But amid this latest influx, to points as far north as Bodega Bay, there is a deepening concern among scientists that Humboldt squid are
entrenching themselves off California, and may expand northward, eating their way through fisheries as they go. The same thing is happening in the Southern Hemisphere, where squid are being blamed for depleting the hake fishery off Chile.

 From National Geographic:

Elusive and cannibalistic, the Humboldt, or jumbo, squid (Dosidicus gigas) has a reputation so fearsome that it has earned the nickname "red devil." […] Known as aggressive predators, Humboldt squid have powerful arms and tentacles, excellent underwater vision and a razor-sharp beak that easily tears through the flesh of their prey. They can also rapidly change their skin color in what appears to be a complex communication system.

Amazing!  

Via San Jose Mercury News

Image is from the First edition (1807) of "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea" by Jules Verne. Via the National Maritime Museum, Royal Observatory, Greenwich.

Here, for your hearing delectation, is an AMAZING ANIMAL MIX.

This is a mix in which all the songs are either A) About and animal or B) Sung to an animal. No metaphors or euphamisms. I tried to be pretty strict, but there are a couple on there that, honestly, are only tangentially about animals, but are mostly just good songs.

If anybody has any good songs to add to it let me know, and I’ll make a part two!

Here’s the tracklist:

1. The 6ths - San Diego Zoo
2. Nina Nastasia - A Dog’s Life
3. El Perro Del Mar - Dog
4. Nick Drake - Black Eyed Dog
5. Bayless Rose - Black Dog Blues
6. Tommy Settlers And His Blues Moaner - Big Bed Bug (Bed Bug Blues)
7. Peggy Honeywell - bower bird
8. The Mountain Goats - Snow Owl
9. Nick Drake - Strange Meeting I / Bird Flew By
10. Iron & Wine - Bird Stealing Bread
11. Keren Ann - Spanish song bird
12. Gothic Archies - Crows
13. Tommy McCook - Ride Me Donkey
14. Pixies - Monkey Gone To Heaven
15. Belle & Sebastian - The Fox In The Snow
16. The Kinks - Phenomenal Cat
17. Devendra Banhart - Little Yellow Spider
18. London Sinfonietta; Charles Dutoit - Aquarium
19. Lilys - The Hermit Crab
20. Bricks - The Sturgeon

And, of course, if anybody objects to me posting a song my them or somebody they represent, let me know and I’ll remove it.

Enjoy!

Download after the jump.

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So some guys in a boat caught a COLOSSAL SQUID (Mesonychoteuthis hamiltoni) off Antarctica, while it was eating a Patagonian toothfish (which also exists, I guess). Apparently the Colossal Squid is a lot like the Giant Squid, but (according to Wikipedia, always known for accuracy), besides being colassaler,

[u]nlike the giant squid, whose tentacles are equipped with suckers lined with small teeth, the suckers at the tips of the Colossal Squid’s tentacles have sharp swiveling hooks. Its body is wider and stouter, and therefore heavier, than that of the giant squid. Colossal Squids are believed to have a longer mantle than giant squids, although their tentacles are shorter.

Holy CRAP. SHARP SWIVELLING HOOKS? This just replaced the vinegaroon in my nightmares.

Via National Geographic, BBC

Here’s a picture of a Patagonian Toothfish. Delicious.

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