Reproduction
Object numberRCSHC/308
Scientific nameEnoploteuthis cookii
CollectionHunterian
CategoryWet preparations
DescriptionVertical section of the mouthparts of a large squid.
This preparation is from the remains of a giant squid found floating in the sea between Cape Horn and Australia by Joseph Banks and Daniel Solander during Captain James Cook's voyage to the South Seas in 1769. Banks recorded the discovery in his diary, as follows: 'I found also this day a large Sepia cuttle fish laying on the water just dead but so pull'd to pieces by the birds that his Species could not be determin'd; only this I know that of him was made one of the best soups I ever eat' (3 March 1769). The inedible beak was brought back to London, and was given to John Hunter.
Production date 1771
Preparator
Collector/excavator
Collector/excavator
Collector/excavator
Owner/user
presented
Physical Location
Location
Not on public display: contact museum for access conditions
Physical Information
Physical descriptionWet preparation of tissue mounted in an oval glass jar with glass lid. Dimensions: 185mm h x 155mm w x 80mm d.
Materialglass (material)
Onychoteuthis banksii
Dimensions
whole height: 185 mm
whole width: 155 mm
whole depth: 80 mm
whole weight: 736 g
whole width: 155 mm
whole depth: 80 mm
whole weight: 736 g
Bibliography
SourceDobson 1970-71
Transcript308: A vertical section of the mouth of a large Calamary (Enoploteuthis cookii) showing the inner lip, the disposition of the beaks, their mode of attachment to the muscular tissues of the mouth, and also the structure of the buccal mass and radula. This part is sheathed at its extremity with a horny substance, furrowed in the vertical direction, and capable of acting as a molar tooth by being opposed to the mandibles. The upper surface of the tongue is traversed longitudinally by a deep sulcus, the sides of which are beset with small horny teeth, directed back- wards, which in the motions of the tongue successively seize the divided portions of the aliment and direct them to the oesophagus. Bristles have been inserted into the ducts of the salivary glands. This is probably part of a specimen brought home by Captain Cook. The evidence for this is given in an article by Richard Owen in the Transactions of the Zoological Society for 1885 (p. 150) where this specimen is figured (Plate 31).
SourceOwen 1881
pages 146-150.
NotesThis specimen is described as one of several surviving from a large cephalopod caught by Joseph Banks on the Endeavour voyage in 1769. Owen sets out the evidence for considering the specimen as a member of the genus Enoploteuthis rather than the previous Onychoteuthis.
TranscriptGenus ONYCHOTEUTHIS, Lichtenstein. A much larger Cephalopod, parts of which have come under my observation, is that which received the following notice in Hawkesworth's 'Account of the Voyages of Discovery in the Southern Hemisphere, successively performed by Commodore Byron and Captains Wallis, Carteret and Cook. In the 2nd volume ('Lieut. Cook's Voyage'), HMS Endeavour, having rounded Cape Horn, and being then in latitude 38° 44' S. and longitude 110° 33' W., is the following entry, of date between the 1st and 8th of March, 1769: 'Mr Banks also, about this time, found a large cuttle-fish, which had just been killed by the birds, floating in a mangled condition upon the water; it was very different from the cuttle-fishes that are found in the European seas; for the arms, instead of suckers, were furnished with a double row of very sharp talons, wich resembled those of a cat, and like them, were retractable into a sheath of skin, from which they might be thrust at pleasure. Of this cuttlefish we made one of the best soups we had ever tasted'.
SourceHunter 1861
Vol. 2, page 425
NotesOwen notes the provenance of this specimen in a footnote to Hunter's description of the dissections of cephalopods.
