Monday 25 March 2013

Giant squid genetics reveal family secrets


By Ella Davies, Reporter, BBC Nature

Giant squid around the world are "basically identical" despite looking very different, say scientists.

The super-sized cephalopods live deep in the oceans and are little-known by the scientific community.

An international team of researchers investigated rare samples of the elusive animals' DNA to reveal their family secrets.

They discovered that there is just a single species of squid with no population structure.
The findings are published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B.

The giant squid has been a source of fascination both before and beyond its formal description in 1857 by Danish biologist Japetus Steenstrup.

Its deep-dwelling lifestyle is largely unknown but specimens have been found globally, with the exception of Arctic and Antarctic waters.


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