Extraordinary claims. Ordinary investigations.

Well, it was unknown, because in a few hours it was identified. Those are colonies of tubificid worms, specifically T. tubifex, smaller than a tennis ball. They are not giant blobs about to eat humans, as the small video camera may suggest to the viewer. They are small clusters of hundreds of worms attached to the sewer pipes in Raleigh, North Carolina.

The identification, made by Dr. Timothy Wood on DeepSeaNews and also by Brazilian biologist Roberto Takata on Massa Crítica, has been confirmed by Ed Buchan, environmental coordinator at the Raleigh Public Utilities Department, to the local TV, News 14 Carolina.

According to Buchan, the tubifex worm colonies attach themselves to roots that work themselves into weak points in the pipes. Other staff members in the department have seen it before, although sightings aren’t particularly common.

Tubifex (video above) are harmless, commonly used as fish food, and it’s probable those in the sewer came directly from a domestic aquarium.

Their pulsating behavior, as if the whole colony was one bigger organism, is perhaps the most interesting feature. Schools of fishes and swarms of birds also exhibit a similar, beautiful collective behavior, well studied, but sticking to the disgustingly sticky, we may refer to slime mold.

One particular species, P. polycephalum, unicellular but with many nuclei, is even capable of “solving” a maze:

The secret is the food placed in the start and finish points – the slime mold converges to the shortest path between them. The research, published on Nature, earned the authors an IgNobel award last year.

P. polycephalum slime mold may be as intelligent as T. tubifex worms are dangerous, but now you know amoebas can solve mazes and fish food can be terrifying, at least when viewed on Youtube.

It’s worth noting that the horrid sewer creature was made popular by the io9 blog, from the same blog network that made the Montauk Monster popular a year ago. Gawker, your source for terrible unidentified creatures.

“Sometime around May 11, 2007, a wealthy Mexican rancher named Marao Lopez found this creature, less than one foot tall, in a steel trap. The property was in Metepec, … Mexico. … The creature was alive, shrieking and scared. … the ranchers decided to kill and preserve it the morning of the third day … They dunked it in water … for many hours, and it finally drowned. It’s ability to survive so long underwater has made many feel it was amphibious.
Within days, word about the strange creature had gotten to Jaime [Maussán]. … Jaime considered Marao Lopez an honorable man. Since Lopez was wealthy, and money was never mentioned as a variable in this situation, Jaime sees no motivation for a hoax. Jaime requested access to the body, now mummified, for tests at various universities. Around this period of time, Marao Lopez died mysteriously.”
The Screamin’ Demon Of Mexico By Joshua P. Warren

A very cheesy mystery thriller, full of plot holes and told by Jaime Maussán, illustrious member of Ufology’s Hall of Shame. So it’s really no surprise twist that the “Screamin’ Demon of Metepec” is just another hoax. Keep reading for the video and some ordinary investigations.

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Is this real? If you have the stomach, click on the image to head to an image gallery and our very ordinary investigation.

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I’m very late on this, but David Acord has started a new weekly cryptozoological newsletter, The Cryptid Chronicles, and from the free sample first issue it seems very interesting. I found “The Whatsit That Wasn’t (Or Was It?)” story particularly nice, as to me it highlights how the public and media perception of creatures is influenced by culture. Acord writes:

“As we’ve seen repeatedly over the years, properly identifying strange mammals can be tricky. Mange or other skin diseases can turn otherwise normal-looking foxes, coyotes and dogs into weird beasts that are often hastily labeled as cryptids or, worse, bonafide chupacabras (as happened in Texas in 2006 and 2007). Usually the disease is diagnosed within a few days or weeks and the story goes away. But in 1971, a strange case popped up in North Dakota that fooled biologists and zoologists alike. (…)
It all started in the late fall of 1971, when Morris Baker found the animal on his farm in Rollette County during a snowstorm. Baffled by its strange appearance – it appeared to possess the qualities of several animals all rolled into one – it was sent first to the North
Dakota State University branch at Bottineau and then transferred to the Roosevelt Park Zoo in Minot. Scientists at both locations were stumped, and gave it the nickname “Whatsit.” Others simply called it “The Thing.”

As it was 1971, there was still no Chupacabras label to put into the animal – the term would only be made popular in the late 1990s. And, more importantly, there was still no practical DNA testing. Even so, the “Whatsit” was eventually identified as a mangy red fox, but not after a long time.

Acord feels the explanation is puzzling nevertheless, as it would mean all those scientists failed to identify a common animal, and the news media didn’t exploit the blunder when it was discovered. Could this be?

I do think so, as all modern cases where DNA testing was conducted revealed these strange mammals to be indeed common, yet poor looking animals, and embarrassed some experts much sooner. And those “I have never seen anything like it” statements are always there. Invisible gorillas.

Alright, the actual video may not be as dramatic as the headline for this post, but it is interesting nonetheless – the robotic arm does poke a very big squid. I couldn’t find an official source confirming the video, but everything seems to check.

From the information in the video itself and a little research, we can infer that it was captured on October 26, 2008, by an underwater Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV) operated by Petrobras during a rigid gas pipeline installation near Espirito Santo, Brazil. I don’t know in what unit of measurement the “ROV Depth” is given, but it’s probably in meters, which would mean the squid enwrapped itself around the ROV at a depth of more than 400 meters.

Now, to the giant question: is it really a giant squid? As far as I could check, the ROV is probably a Subsea7-Warrior, which is around 1.7 meters (66 inches) wide. And from the video, the squid looks roughly the same length as the ROV itself. So, yes, I think it was a giant squid. Not that huge, but giant indeed. Not that I’m a zoologist either, so be sure to check again for any updates. [Read the update below: it’s not an Architeutis, but a Dana Octopus Squid]

Some have suggested it could be a more common “Jumbo”, or Humboldt squid, but the Humboldt squid is found in the waters of the Humboldt Current in the Eastern Pacific Ocean. Petrobras works in the Atlantic Ocean. There are other big squids such as Onykia or Kondakovia, but they don’t seem to match depth, location and appearance quite well either.

Considering the first film of a live giant squid was taken on 2006, this new Brazilian video would be pretty relevant. Taken by an underwater ROV, it would be similar to the more recent Magnapinna footage, and as far as I know, it would be also the first sighting near the Brazilian shore. I would more than welcome any comments, corrections, professional opinions, official sources and confirmation for this new footage.

[hat tip to Konda, thanks!]

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UPDATE: Frederico T. Magalhaes, from the Biology Institute of the Campinas State University, writes us:

“I’m a zoologist specialized in dealing with mollusks, and by the images I can say this is a Taningia danae. A species of bioluminescent squid that reaches up to around 1,70m and lives in deep waters. It was filmed alive for the first time in its habitat in 2005, before that it was known only through dead specimens and parts. Here’s an image of the video [which is also below], and here is one being examined in a lab. There’s also this nice illustration. It’s different from Architeutis sp., specially because the fins extend all along the mantle, shorter arms, no hooks and smaller size. You can see an Architeutis sp here. I hope this helps!”

It sure does, thank you very much Frederico!