Scientists discover deep sea enigma

The Guardian (U.K.) ^ | 10/24/03 | Suzanne Goldenberg

[irishtenor]

I hate those enigmas. One tried to bite my toe off. A brown spotted enigma, I think.

[IncPen]

Wet.

[SpellingTroll]

It had a purple, lotus flower-shaped head perched atop a sinuous green stalk of a body measuring several centimetres long.

I think I found a picture of what they saw:

[michaelt]

Damn, you beat me to it.

[LibWhacker]

Meanwhile, geneticists are using new DNA sequencing techniques to catalogue microbes less than a millimetre long.

Forget that. I'm worried about microbes that are longer than a millimetre!

[Sabertooth]

The creature, as viewed from the submarine moving about the ocean depths between Iceland and the Azores, was like nothing the marine biologists had seen before. It had a purple, lotus flower-shaped head perched atop a sinuous green stalk of a body measuring several centimetres long.

Months later, the scientists are still not entirely sure if the animal was a fish. "It was a type of animal that didn't match the characteristics of any we know of," said Michael Vecchione, a deep-sea expert and part of the expedition.

< -snip- >

Sadly, the specimen discovered by Mr Vecchione's crew disintegrated when it came to the surface. However, as the submersible bumped along the craggy ocean floor plumbing depths almost three miles below the Atlantic surface, the scientists encountered other unknown species. They included a 30cm-long (1ft), webbed octopus that looked a little like a cartoon ghost, and a "lizard" skittering along the ocean floor.

Interesting.

The octopus sounds like a species of Grimpoteuthis.

No clues about the "lizard." Nessie?

[Wiggins]

It must be the elusive "Alan Combes" Sneetch.

[Naspino]

I've seen this movie so many times is pathetic. Let me guess they have a high-tech lab on the bottom of the ocean -- little did they know they'd awaken a terrible beast that had never been discovered. They all died and ate each other in the process. This is just spin put out by some instititute looking to continue its grant. Oh and they had to keep the base open even after they found out about the beast else the tourist revenue would have been impacted.

[PoorMuttly]

Uh-oh shaggy...they got ya'!

...but since you were wearing your formal evening eeling attire, which they've never seen before either...maybe you can just deny it. I used to do that all the time.

What's strange is at first I only read the Title and was going to post about deep-sea enemas, and how the Bikini Bottom Community Association asked you to move your toilet outside the Bermuda Triangle City Limits, because all those sunken ships and UFOs were impeding the normal flow of traffic...and the Article turns out to be about you anyway !

FR is great, isn't it?!

[GOPJ]

Is that a German enigma machine?

[Doctor Stochastic]

Clearly the U-Boot version.

[Fitzcarraldo]

http://pages.zdnet.com/capitalcitydive/GiantSquid/unknown_squidsa.html

[Doctor Stochastic]

But maybe not. The U-Boot version had 5 wheels. This looks like a three-wheeler.

[Fitzcarraldo]

[IncPen]

Is that a German enigma machine?

Shh! it's a picture from the C-I-A.

They don't know I'm using it.

[LiteKeeper]

read later

[JRandomFreeper]

Is that a German enigma machine?

Lord make my response kind.....

No, it's a Polish Enigma Machine. It's a PEM. The itty bitty instructions in German are meant to throw you off. It worked! I knew it would! Bwahahahahaha. (leading /john away in a straight jacket....)

/john

[Ichneumon]

Ocean survey could bring to light many unknown species

Here's one of the weirder things found in the dark high-pressure depths: The Vampyroteuthis infernalis, which loosely translates to "vampire squid from hell":

It has spines on its tentacles instead of suckers, which is pretty spooky, and when it gets startled it opens its arms wide and wraps them (and the web "skirt" between them) back around its body, making it look like a spiky football:

It also has luminous spots on its tentacles that it can turn on or off, perhaps for illumination or for attracting prey.

[Wacka]

I believe the British or Americans obtained their first enigma machine from a Pole.