Strange squid with human-like "teeth"

Apparently, this is real. Species: Promachoteuthis sulcus. According to the Tree of Life Web project, the single specimen is 25 mm and was captured at a depth of nearly 2000 meters in the south Atlantic Ocean off Tristan Da Cunha.
Link

Previously on BB:
• The Deep: The Extraordinary Creatures of the Abyss Link

David Pescovitz is Boing Boing's co-editor/managing partner. He's also a research director at Institute for the Future. On Instagram, he's @pesco.

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Marshall

Cthulhu would be so proud!
bouncybouncy

Why do I imagine it singing “Hello My Baby”?
Stefan Jones

It’s a prairie squid!
bouncybouncy

Why do I imagine it singing “Hello My Baby”?
Teresa Nielsen Hayden / Moderator

Chaser? Here you go.
Archipictor

I think the stars are right… It’s time to prepare for coming of the Great Old Ones… Their servants are surfacing… Ia ia!
waugsqueke

I wonder if it smiles.
karin

I e-mailed the professor who took this photo because i really wanted to know what these “human-like” teeth were made of…and he said the following:

“The “teeth” in the photograph of the squid are caused by folds in the lips. The lips consist of soft, fleshy tissue that surrounds the beaks. The full ring of the lips is not visible in the photograph, just the top and bottom of the ring which gives the impression of upper and lower sets of teeth. Also the beaks cannot be seen as they are dark and the exposure was made for the lighter tissues. It had never occurred to me that the lips could be interpreted as teeth. I’m traveling at the moment; when I return to Hawaii, I’ll add something to the figure caption to clarify this.

Thanks for your interest.

Best wishes,
Dick”
Sam the Duck

Someone please Goatse this now. I’m at work, so I can’t.
Dirk

Ugh, this sends shivers down my spine for some reason….
MonkeyFez

That is so much more disturbing than I can deal with today.
Cpt. Tim

Ia! Ia!
ernie

They reproduce by latching into the face of a suitable host and depositing their embryo in the digestive tract.
BattyMcDougall

Fhtagn…
halfsquatch

here’s my Busey Squid

http://halfsquatch.blogspot.com/2007/10/busey-squid.html
anthropomorphictoast

Life Cycle Stage: Immature? I wonder how big the adult ones are… o.o
BIZKeT

Looks like something out of a Tool video. I wonder how it tastes…
halfvenus

This will show up in the next anti-choice film. I just know it.
Mim

Not to mention the other end of it looks rather lewd…
dmduncan

I say FIRE Katie Couric and have that thing deliver the evening news!
erindipity

Looks like the work of eclectech :)
abq halsey

IT MAKES MY BALLS HURT.
pr10n

Human-like “teeth”? Well maybe, if the squid is from England. Oh!
Michael D

Thanks for the nightmare fodder! I’d been running short on disturbing Tagesrest.
halfsquatch

I’m calling it a Busey Squid
phazeaction

was goatse’ed within seconds.

here’s one: http://www.rhythmism.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=43802&stc=1&d=1193417742
vsm

gee, i think it’s dang cute.
Dirk

@14: Ah! I need a unicorn chaser!!!!
Halloween Jack

New truism: Life imitates Worth1000.
mellowknees

omg I cannot stop looking at this. You guys really need to post something cute and cuddly (and I’m not talking about a squirrel with spider legs) to counteract this. Thanks for the nightmares!
Chevan

>>Strange squid with human-like “teeth”

You could easily substitute the name of any omnivorous/herbivorous animal for “human” in that sentence.

Yes, it’s odd that it has teeth that seem to be adapted for grinding rather than pinching/biting, but it’s a stretch to say they’re “human-like.”
V

Ha – terrifying inch-long monsters of the deep…

note from the g/f, who studied squids in a previous lifetime:

“I think that’s an illusion. Squid have sharp beaks, and i think that the ‘teeth’ are really soft tissue (like suckers or something) that are striped and make it look like a nice smile.”
tangerined

vagina dentata… it lives
NE2d

My god that is horrifying. If this doesn’t merit a unicorn chaser, I don’t know what does.
JIMWICh

MAI LOLSQUID

KTHXBAI!
Jennifer Emick

It’s a dalek…
Anonymous

cant you all see it the teeth are squared but will grow longer and rub against each othe making them sharp and it will grow much larger the 2 larger tenticals are for breaking the smaller, for grabing. the common name for it nowadays would be Kracken, or leviathan