In 2010, the sperm whale population began to drop at an acclerated rate. Marine biologists knew that these large whales dived deep in pursuit of their favorite prey, the giant squid (which could grow up to 80 feet in length). The biologists quickly ruled out disease as the culprit. They theorized that there might be some other creature that was preying upon the whales. It was thought that the creatures probably lived in the very deepest parts of the ocean. Expedition after expedition dived into the trenches of the Pacific off Japan, at first, then systematically around the Pacific rim for the next two years. In the late summer of 2012, a trio of Kiwi marine biologists in a deep sea submersible were probing the depths of the Kermadec Trench, which stretches away to the northeast from New Zealand. Unfortunately for the biologists, they suddenly found themselves face to face with the hugest sea creature any of them had ever seen. Certain that this was probably the long sought for preditor of the sperm whales, one of them, Joan Smyth-Davies, managed to take about 14 seconds of the creature in its natural element before the monster swallowed the submersible. No one survived the meal. The creature was found floating on the ocean's surface, several days later, by the science research vessel that had been the submersible's base. An autopsy revealed a crushed submersible lodged in the creature's intestines. ************** Credit: Inspired a bit by the recent photographs of a giant squid in its natural element. The submersible is by teschio. I changed the interior lights from green to red and enlarge the seats and instrument panels a bit. The creature is the opee sea killer from the first Star Wars prequel. It was modeled and textured by Ko Ter and downloaded from Sci-fi 3d.net. Thanks for dropping by and for any constructive or encouraging comments, Jeremy