Mystery Photo at Boing Boing
Posted by: Loren Coleman on November 23rd, 2006
Old cryptobuddy David Pescovitz continues to post cryptozoological and faux cryptozoologie news items at Boing Boing, such as this new one, "Takeshi Yamada’s curious taxidermy creations".
Now, fellow Boing Boing blogger Mark Frauenfelder is jumping into the cryptid pool, with both feet this week. See his posting on "Old engravings of animals are charmingly strange" (about such images as the one above). I only saw this after I’d posted mine on "Who Were The Dogheads?" and the "Discovered: Circa 1350 A.D. Hominid," so I must be on the same wavelength as Mark.
Also, Mark Frauenfelder has posted a mystery image, (see below) of interest here, concerning an "Unusual photo of large squid in parking lot".
The original site of this photo has no idea on the source of this parking lot gem, which apparently mysteriously showed up in their email box around November 21, 2006 (the jpeg, not the squid, of course).
It certainly looks like an Architeuthis (giant squid) to me.
UPDATE
This is from the 3yen site, which writes about the new found attention to their old posting:
The Kraken attacks Japanese parking lot!
Dateline <3yen: timestamp: July 27, 2006 @ 18:03
Large squid are commonly caught off the coast of Japan. But yikes, this one displayed in a parking lot of a wholesale fish market in Tohoku Japan yesterday is the KRAKEN!
About Loren Coleman
Loren Coleman is one of the world’s leading cryptozoologists, some say “the” leading living cryptozoologist. Certainly, he is acknowledged as the current living American researcher and writer who has most popularized cryptozoology in the late 20th and early 21st centuries.
Starting his fieldwork and investigations in 1960, after traveling and trekking extensively in pursuit of cryptozoological mysteries, Coleman began writing to share his experiences in 1969. An honorary member of Ivan T. Sanderson’s Society for the Investigation of the Unexplained in the 1970s, Coleman has been bestowed with similar honorary memberships of the North Idaho College Cryptozoology Club in 1983, and in subsequent years, that of the British Columbia Scientific Cryptozoology Club, CryptoSafari International, and other international organizations. He was also a Life Member and Benefactor of the International Society of Cryptozoology (now-defunct).
Loren Coleman’s daily blog, as a member of the Cryptomundo Team, served as an ongoing avenue of communication for the ever-growing body of cryptozoo news from 2005 through 2013. He returned as an infrequent contributor beginning Halloween week of 2015.
Coleman is the founder in 2003, and current director of the International Cryptozoology Museum in Portland, Maine.
Some of the comments on the site manage to deduce it’s in Japan (from the car and the bottle of green tea). Supposition is made that the wharf area might be too crowded by machinery and such to make a good place to stretch out the catch, so the fisherman hauled it to the very close by parking area, and laid it out by the car and bottle to indicate scale.
Most likely a Humboldt Squid, which can get that big.
That is a sloth, correct?
Yes, the drawing appears to be a sloth; the whole point, of course, is that, at least for the ones Mark is discussing, they seem to have been drawn without the artists having seen them. Actually, they may have been drawn from descriptions and preserved specimens.
Looks like one to me, J.Vac.
Yes that top picture is a three toed sloth.
That is one truly bizarre picture of a sloth, especially since the smaller inset pic is much more lifelike. Topsell (sp?) and others turned quite a few known animals into hideous monsters as I recall.
As for the squid, sure, a nice big space in a lot is easy but can they parallel park?
I thought Humboldts were red, and near Mexico and Central America?
Porkchop, many squids can appear very large because of their long tentacles. I would call this a very big squid, but not yet a giant squid.
Of course that’s just my opinion.
Humboldt squids are found in the waters of the Humboldt Current in the Eastern Pacific Ocean, hence the name.
However, there is evidence they are spreading north into the waters of the American West Coast.
They can reach 6 ft in length and weigh up to 100 pounds. And they are red in coloration, but they can change it to white using chromatophores.
Hope to have answered your question.
I think the squid in the photo is interesting. I live in Japan and have been to many fish markets. Squid is a pretty popular food over here, but never have I seen them trying to peddle one of that size.