# What does a 5-year-old paleontologist call a squidmesisah? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 22, 2011, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-a-5-year-old-paleontologist-call-a-squidmesisah/586500 "2011-06-22T23:26:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2011, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-a-5-year-old-paleontologist-call-a-squidmesisah/586500/1 "2011-06-22T23:26:31Z")
Simple question: a kindergartener friend is an appallingly good reader and obsessive about dinosaurs, and somewhere (on TV or in a book) he ran across a creature he calls a squidmesisah. He says it’s something that lived underwater and has spines, but nobody’s been able to figure out what it could be. Does anyone have any ideas? If he were a China Mieville fan I’d think it was a squid messiah, but I don’t think that’s it. ---
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2011, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-a-5-year-old-paleontologist-call-a-squidmesisah/586500/2 "2011-06-22T23:55:44Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > Simple question: a kindergartener friend is an appallingly good reader and obsessive about dinosaurs, and somewhere (on TV or in a book) he ran across a creature he calls a squidmesisah. He says it’s something that lived underwater and has spines, but nobody’s been able to figure out what it could be. Does anyone have any ideas? If he were a China Mieville fan I’d think it was a squid messiah, but I don’t think that’s it. Perhaps a Coelacanth? The article here also has names for other prehistoric fish. > **[Coelacanth](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coelacanth)** > > And see text > Coelacanths (/ˈsiːləkænθ/ ⓘ SEE-lə-kanth) are an ancient group of lobe-finned fish (Sarcopterygii) in the class Actinistia. As sarcopterygians, they are more closely related to lungfish and tetrapods (the terrestrial vertebrates including living amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals) than to ray-finned fish. > The name coelacanth originates from the Permian genus Coelacanthus, which was the first scientifically named genus of coelacanths (in 1839), becoming the type genus of Coe... ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2011, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-a-5-year-old-paleontologist-call-a-squidmesisah/586500/3 "2011-06-22T23:59:28Z")
Predates the dinos (and reptiles in general) by quite a bit, but the first thing that came to mind to me was [Hallucigenia](http://gsc.nrcan.gc.ca/paleochron/09_e.php). ---
**Author:** ![yoyodyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/a9a28c/32.png) [@yoyodyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yoyodyne)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2011, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-a-5-year-old-paleontologist-call-a-squidmesisah/586500/4 "2011-06-23T00:04:20Z")
Spines as in backbones? Possibly a [belemnite](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belemnitida) **.** ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2011, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-a-5-year-old-paleontologist-call-a-squidmesisah/586500/5 "2011-06-23T00:12:25Z")
Spinosaurus or Seismosaurus maybe? Seismosaurus is just a Diplodocus, but Spinosaurus has spines and is though to be aquatic by some (living in water, not under it, but we’re talking about a 5 year old here). ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2011, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-a-5-year-old-paleontologist-call-a-squidmesisah/586500/6 "2011-06-23T00:17:44Z")
Perhaps a predecessor of the [vampire squid](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vampire_squid)? They have “spines.” Apparently many members of [the order](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vampyromorphida) are now extinct. ---
**Author:** ![Panurge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/fbc32d/32.png) [@Panurge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Panurge)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2011, 7:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-a-5-year-old-paleontologist-call-a-squidmesisah/586500/7 "2011-06-23T07:32:04Z")
Could it be that he found a description of the [Sea Monk](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sea_monk)? ETA: Never mind. Read the OP as Squid _messiah_ in stead of mesisah. ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2011, 11:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-a-5-year-old-paleontologist-call-a-squidmesisah/586500/8 "2011-06-23T11:30:29Z")
I’m thinking he may be half-remembering a Burgess Shale type fauna critter, like Wiwaxia, but I can’t pull up in my memory one whose name can be mangled enough to match. (I have not been following the discoveries much over the past fifteen years so I might not be aware of something a bright kindergartener stumbled across.) ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Knig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/cdc98d/32.png) [@Typo\_Knig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Knig)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2011, 11:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-a-5-year-old-paleontologist-call-a-squidmesisah/586500/9 "2011-06-23T11:34:55Z")
One of the Burgess Shale critters was called Anomolicarus, which means “odd shrimp”. (I’m living up to my Dopername on the spelling!) ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2011, 11:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-a-5-year-old-paleontologist-call-a-squidmesisah/586500/10 "2011-06-23T11:35:20Z")
I read “squidmesisah” as “squid messiah” and was prepared to warn you that the child is clearly a servant of Cthulhu. ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2011, 11:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-a-5-year-old-paleontologist-call-a-squidmesisah/586500/11 "2011-06-23T11:35:29Z")
> [@Panurge](#): > > Could it be that he found a description of the [Sea Monk](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sea_monk)? > > ETA: Never mind. Read the OP as Squid _messiah_ in stead of mesisah. I did too, in fact wouldn’t have caught it if you hadn’t pointed it out. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2011, 11:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-a-5-year-old-paleontologist-call-a-squidmesisah/586500/12 "2011-06-23T11:51:51Z")
I appreciate the ideas! I think that he heard it on a show, not read it in a book, but I’m not sure; in any case, the name is something along the lines of squidmezzizah (changing the spelling to avoid the messiah confusion!) It’s probably not something ending in -saurus, as he’s very familiar with that suffix. ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2011, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-a-5-year-old-paleontologist-call-a-squidmesisah/586500/13 "2011-06-23T13:16:04Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > I appreciate the ideas! I think that he heard it on a show, not read it in a book, but I’m not sure; in any case, the name is something along the lines of squidmezzizah (changing the spelling to avoid the messiah confusion!) It’s probably not something ending in -saurus, as he’s very familiar with that suffix. Maybe he heard something about a squid from the Mesozoic era? ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2011, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-a-5-year-old-paleontologist-call-a-squidmesisah/586500/14 "2011-06-23T13:22:58Z")
Maybe it’s a squid nailed to a doorpost - a squidmezzuzah? ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2011, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-a-5-year-old-paleontologist-call-a-squidmesisah/586500/15 "2011-06-23T13:32:47Z")
Searching for a “spined fish”, I noticed that there’s a family of spined fish called the Scorpaeniformes, including such things as Scorpaenopsella Armata and Scorpaenopsis Macrochir. That’s as close as I saw to something like skwidmessisa. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2011, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-a-5-year-old-paleontologist-call-a-squidmesisah/586500/16 "2011-06-23T13:51:53Z")
> [@yoyodyne](#): > > Spines as in backbones? Possibly a [belemnite](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belemnitida) **.** > [@Machine\_Elf](#): > > Maybe he heard something about a squid from the Mesozoic era? Taking these two quotes together, I think belemnite is the likely answer. It was squid-like. It was Mesozoic. It could well have been explained as “kind of like a squid, from the Mesozoic.” Young kids prefer the word _squid_, I’ve noticed. Growing up, I heard other kids as well as TV shows and cartoons referring to an octopus as a “squid.” For kids who may be thought too young to learn a word as advanced as _cephalopod_, the concept can be gotten across by saying “squid” as the cephalopod name most familiar to kids. ---
**Author:** ![Mollie\_Magill](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mollie_magill/32/20882_2.png) [@Mollie\_Magill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mollie_Magill)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2011, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-a-5-year-old-paleontologist-call-a-squidmesisah/586500/17 "2011-06-23T13:56:38Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > I appreciate the ideas! I think that he heard it on a show, not read it in a book, but I’m not sure; in any case, the name is something along the lines of squidmezzizah (changing the spelling to avoid the messiah confusion!) It’s probably not something ending in -saurus, as he’s very familiar with that suffix. He probably heard about it on The Dinosaur Train, a favorite of the younger Magills. I’ll poke around their website and see what I can come up with. ---
**Author:** ![Mollie\_Magill](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mollie_magill/32/20882_2.png) [@Mollie\_Magill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mollie_Magill)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2011, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-a-5-year-old-paleontologist-call-a-squidmesisah/586500/18 "2011-06-23T14:31:00Z")
> [@Mollie\_Magill](#): > > He probably heard about it on The Dinosaur Train, a favorite of the younger Magills. I’ll poke around their website and see what I can come up with. Here are the featured species from their “Dinosaurs Under the Sea” series of episodes: [Cretoxyrhina](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cretoxyrhina)- An ancient Shark - [Picture](http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://images.bogge.tv/screencap/dinosaur-train/dinosaur-train_S01E37_carla-cretoxyrhina---train-trouble.jpg&imgrefurl=http://images.bogge.tv/screencap/dinosaur-train/&usg=__eF1RzyYQnnLIdxJybCQfn91b4-M=&h=170&w=300&sz=13&hl=en&start=0&zoom=1&tbnid=7UgyGQBPdcOr3M:&tbnh=103&tbnw=182&ei=pkwDTtzeKdCs0AHbytjxDQ&prev=/search%3Fq%3Ddinosaur%2Btrain%2Bcarla%2Bcretoxyrhina%26hl%3Den%26newwindow%3D1%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26sa%3DX%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official%26channel%3Dnp%26biw%3D1109%26bih%3D692%26tbm%3Disch%26prmd%3Divns&itbs=1&iact=hc&vpx=832&vpy=110&dur=5062&hovh=136&hovw=240&tx=179&ty=159&page=1&ndsp=22&ved=1t:429,r:4,s:0&biw=1109&bih=692) [Elasmosaurus](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elasmosaurus)- A plesiosaur - [Picture](http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://images.bogge.tv/screencap/dinosaur-train/dinosaur-train_S01E36_elmer-elasmosaurus---dinosaur-block-party.jpg&imgrefurl=http://images.bogge.tv/screencap/dinosaur-train/&usg=__s_L4f0BmwIPFPAqUAP3tCf6SFUs=&h=170&w=300&sz=10&hl=en&start=0&zoom=1&tbnid=F95xpovh7WAB-M:&tbnh=107&tbnw=189&ei=AU0DTpOrGMe10AHW9PGFDg&prev=/search%3Fq%3Ddinosaur%2Btrain%2BElasmosaurus%26hl%3Den%26newwindow%3D1%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26sa%3DG%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official%26channel%3Dnp%26biw%3D1109%26bih%3D692%26tbm%3Disch&itbs=1&iact=hc&vpx=143&vpy=252&dur=4723&hovh=136&hovw=240&tx=136&ty=72&page=1&ndsp=21&ved=1t:429,r:5,s:0&biw=1109&bih=692) [Michelinoceras](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michelinoceras)- A mullosk that reminds me of a nautilus - [Picture](http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.pbs.org/teachers/includes/content/dinosaurtrain/138_michelinoceras.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.pbs.org/teachers/dinosaurtrain/episodes/&usg=__FM8LnXCcdYyee5E9cuUSnLxBQEM=&h=80&w=150&sz=8&hl=en&start=0&zoom=1&tbnid=54emtmK_Sd1rUM:&tbnh=64&tbnw=120&ei=NU0DTrjnG4nz0gGMhYDoDQ&prev=/search%3Fq%3Ddinosaur%2Btrain%2BMichelinoceras%26hl%3Den%26newwindow%3D1%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26sa%3DG%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official%26channel%3Dnp%26biw%3D1109%26bih%3D692%26tbm%3Disch&itbs=1&iact=hc&vpx=547&vpy=296&dur=5234&hovh=64&hovw=120&tx=85&ty=41&page=1&ndsp=23&ved=1t:429,r:8,s:0&biw=1109&bih=692) [Pliosaurus](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pliosaurus)- A big ol’ aquatic reptile - [Picture](http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://images.bogge.tv/screencap/dinosaur-train/dinosaur-train_S01E39_paulie-pliosaurus---elmer-visits-the-desert.jpg&imgrefurl=http://images.bogge.tv/screencap/dinosaur-train/&usg=__WJ3M6yq0h8tGM6krqP86KfVDuRg=&h=170&w=300&sz=11&hl=en&start=0&zoom=1&tbnid=2EhaaBahFRKAkM:&tbnh=96&tbnw=170&ei=dE0DTvblDuL00gHB3YTfDQ&prev=/search%3Fq%3Ddinosaur%2Btrain%2BPliosaurus%26hl%3Den%26newwindow%3D1%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official%26channel%3Dnp%26biw%3D1109%26bih%3D692%26tbm%3Disch&itbs=1&iact=hc&vpx=497&vpy=251&dur=716&hovh=136&hovw=240&tx=134&ty=86&page=1&ndsp=22&ved=1t:429,r:8,s:0&biw=1109&bih=692) Of these, my guess would be the Michelinoceras, which looks vaguely squid-like, and being hard for a five year old to say, might get corrupted to “squidmesisah.” ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2011, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-a-5-year-old-paleontologist-call-a-squidmesisah/586500/19 "2011-06-23T15:32:48Z")
Awesome, **Maus** –that could well be what it was. Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![Mollie\_Magill](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mollie_magill/32/20882_2.png) [@Mollie\_Magill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mollie_Magill)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2011, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-a-5-year-old-paleontologist-call-a-squidmesisah/586500/20 "2011-06-23T15:47:47Z")
When you talk to the kid, say, “I have a hypothesis: Your ‘squidmezzizah’ is a Michelinoceras,” and show him a picture. If you’re right (and he heard about it from The Dinosaur Train) your esteem in his eyes will increase a hundredfold. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-a-5-year-old-paleontologist-call-a-squidmesisah/586500.md?page=2)