Squids That Can Fly 100 Feet through the Air
Fishermen claim to have seen oceanic squids jump out of the water for long distances, but only recently have biologists confirmed these sightings. Jun Yamamoto of Hokkaido University led a research team that tracked a group of them jumping great distances at 10.31 meters a second--faster than Usain Bolt can run:
Yamamoto and his team were tracking a shoal of around 100 oceanic squid in the northwest Pacific 600 kilometres (370 miles) east of Tokyo, in July 2011.
As their boat approached, the 20 centimetre (8-inch) creatures launched themselves into the air with a powerful jet of water that shot out from their funnel-like stems.
"Once they finish shooting out the water, they glide by spreading out their fins and arms," Yamamoto's team said in a report.
"As they land back in the water, the fins are all folded back into place to minimise the impact."
Why don't we have funnel-like stems for propulsion purposes? We humans were robbed by evolution.
Link -via Ace of Spades HQ | Photo: AFP
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