Could there be a healthy squid population living in local waters? has a fantastic opening:
Is it a possibility that there is a healthy squid population in waters around Grand Bahama?Mystery! Intrigue! The authorities may be ignoring the situation, but never fear, the journalists will poke and prod until it all comes out.
Although, at this point, there is no official answer to the question from the proper authority, this daily will continue to search and keep our readers updated.
The piece then describes the discovery, by one Astrid Dalins, of a diamondback squid egg mass washed up on the beach. (For more on diamondback squid and the amazing flotation devices they build for their eggs, see here.) The beach tale is followed by a straight cut-and-paste from the Tree of Life diamondback squid page (written by Richard Young and Michael Vecchione, who are certainly not cited).
With no warning, the story then jumps from discussing the long slender trabeculae of diamondback paralarvae to recapping a 2010 squid discovery by three fishermen, including one Aron Long.
Long said he intends to contact the University of Miami about the discovery.I can be prone to procrastination myself, but come on, you found this squid in JUNE 2010. Waiting for the two-year anniversary or what?
Next, the story jumps into giant squid, implying that was the identity of Long's squid--which I can't verify with any independent googling.
Just to be clear: giant squid (Architeuthis sp.) and diamondback squid (Thysanoteuthis rhombus) are totally different kinds of squid. Okay? Okay. But the the author's Tree of Life research doesn't seem to have clarified that, because the piece closes with this paragraph:
While it was not verified that the discovery by Dalins and the 2006 squid are of the same species, there is reasonable evidence that a squid population maybe developing in local waters.I'm going to guess that "2006" was meant to be "2010," referring to Long's discovery. Even so, this makes no sense. The article has already suggested that Dalins' was a diamondback squid and Long's was a giant squid, so that would make them definitely not the same species.
Since when are two discoveries, two years apart, of two different species of squid, "reasonable evidence" for anything? The Minion said it best:
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