Big Squid Washing up on Ore. Beach

(AP)  Numerous large squid are reportedly washing up dead on the central Oregon coast near Heceta Head.

Oregon State Parks and Recreation spokesman Chris Havel tells the Oregonian his office is hearing reports of dozens of what are probably Humboldt squid. He says they're typically much more common in warmer waters around Santa Cruz, Calif.

Havel says the carnivorous invertebrates could be at the end of their life cycle, or could be dying because of disease or lack of food. Humboldt, or jumbo squid, can grow up to 6 feet long and weigh as much as 100 pounds.

They've also showed up recently in waters off the Washington coast and in the Strait of Juan de Fuca between Washington state and British Columbia's Vancouver Island. Commercial fishermen in the strait complained the giant squid were grabbing the salmon right off their hooks. The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife has allowed the fishermen to sell the squid they accidentally catch as they troll for salmon.

NOAA oceanographer Kent Baltz of Santa Cruz said earlier a "strong hypothesis" for why the squid have moved north is that the ocean water is warmer than usual.

[parisdakar]

Is anything NOT caused by "global warming"?

[sabestu]

Send some of that calamari to the red necks in the texas panhandle.

[krusenjames]

I thought ostriches stuck their heads in the sand, not elephants.

[doc_holliday76]

Warming ocean melts Greenland glaciers

Sept. 23, 2009
By KARL RITTER, Associated Press Writer
SERMILIK FJORD, Greenland

...colleagues from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts zigzagged between majestic icebergs in the Sermilik fjord last month in search of proof that waters from warmer latitudes, or subtropical waters, are flushing through this remote and frigid region.

They found it ? all the way up to the base of the outlet glaciers that spill into the ocean like tongues of ice from Greenland's massive ice sheet.

Coupled with similar findings off western Greenland, the discovery could help to explain why the glaciers have started flowing quicker in the past decade, a phenomenon that raised alarm because it contributes to rising sea levels.

--------

The research underscores the complex interaction between the world's oceans and a warming atmosphere.

Oceans help to contain global warming by absorbing about half of the carbon dioxide released by humans into the atmosphere, but the water also expands as it warms, raising sea levels.

It could also have a big impact on climate through feedback mechanisms, such as the melting of seaside glaciers and changes to ocean currents that warm or cool different parts of the globe.

In the June-August period, the world's ocean surface temperature was the warmest on record since 1880, according to the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

[casionova]

What have you got against punctuation?

[anti-global2]

here we go, now that alot of the scientists who claimed they had proof of global warming are admitting they really cannot prove anything they are going to look at anything they can to support their plan to tax Americans to redistribute the wealth to poor countries.

[doc_holliday76]

More of the anti-science republican't diatribe, unable to support the bushevik's foot-dragging on lowering greenhouse gas emissions.

Why do the constipated conservitards remain in total DENIAL, as our planet is changing so fast right before our eyes?



NOAA oceanographer Kent Baltz of Santa Cruz said earlier a "strong hypothesis" for why the squid have moved north is that the ocean water is warmer than usual.

[krusenjames]

The article was about squid, not fear and loathing. It's much the same reaction Jesus got when those conservatives heard him speak. Break out the lumber and the nails.