Stumble It!

I used to keep several marine aquariums featuring common sea creatures like reef fish, anemone, brittle stars, etc. I had a special tank with a few seahorses and the like. I also love starfish but lacked the necessary tank size, the time to devote to such an intensive hobby and the required equipment such as light screens and actinic lighting necessary for the proper upkeep of these marine creatures. I would have enjoyed having a cuttlefish, or a small variety of squid, if it were possible. In recent years we have learned more about cousins of the common squid, the Humboldt squid, and both the Giant and the Colossal Squid.

Where Did We First Meet The Giant Squid?

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One of the first encounters with a Giant Squid occurred off the coast of Newfoundland, depicted here on the side of this rental truck. Similar strandings occur off the coasts of New Zealand as well. The interval timing and possible reasons for these ’strandings’ is listed below, from Wiki.

This rental truck company has been running an ad campaign I guess, using murals like this on the sides of their rental vehicles depicting things of local, regional and national interest, ranging from flora & fauna, vacation destinations and other points of national heritage. I visited their site and could not find any additional mention or information on the campaign nor, of course, on the subject matter featured.

From Wikipedia:

“…Although strandings continue to occur sporadically throughout the world, none have been as frequent as those at Newfoundland and New Zealand in the 19th century. It is not known why giant squid become stranded on shore, but it may be because the distribution of deep, cold water where squid live is temporarily altered. Many scientists who have studied squid mass strandings believe that they are cyclical and predictable. The length of time between strandings is not known, but was proposed to be 90 years by Architeuthis specialist Frederick Aldrich. Aldrich used this value to correctly predict a relatively small stranding that occurred between 1964 and 1966…”

Do Giant Squid ‘Ink’ Like Smaller Squid Do?

It is disputed whether there are as few as one ‘family’ or as many as eight families of ‘large squid.’ The lack of knowledge of territory, migration, DNA relationships are still a total unknown to science. In years to come, more will be revealed for sure on the lives of these mysterious denizens of the darkness.

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Yes, like other squid, Giant Squid do have ‘ink’ to confuse the rapidly approaching predator that is within visual range, so that the squid may facilitate their retreat. -It might look like this image again from this rental truck. But here, the shadows are of a nearby tree upon it. I doubt this ink strategy is of much use in very deep waters as they are deep swimmers, -not likely to need such evasive protection techniques there. At the depth Giant and Colossal Squids range, they would benefit more if they had protection from echolocation predators such as whales. Perhaps they do, nature provides something similar in some species of moth. An approaching bat, a common predator of all moths alike, sends echolocation waves out and this special specie of moth in retaliation and sensing this, returns its OWN echolocation ’sonar’ which momentarily confuses the bat and obfuscates the moth’s actual position, allowing for a timely and narrow escape. A natural sonar ‘cloaking device,’ –a form of radar deflection!

Yes, Giant Squid Are Big

Giant Squid and their even larger cousins, the Colossal Squid, attain lengths unheard of to modern biology science and so far, nobody knows how big ‘big’ can be! There always seems to be someone larger out there. Current estimates have the largest squid at around 20m (66 ft) long! So far, this has not been documented scientifically, but is based upon comparative calculations both visually, and from partial remains retrieved from deceased specimens. Dead specimens laid upon the beach or deck of a vessel may have been over-exaggerated, ’stretching’ the dead tentacles of this boneless creature may also account for some of this purported length.

The Business End of the Giant Squid

When it comes to feeding, these guys can take a bite out of just about anything they can get ahold of; fish, mammals (seals, sea birds, -even humans perhaps?) and certainly, of other squid. With a beak resembling that of a parrot, they can rip chunks of living flesh from their prey or wreak havoc upon the flesh of an attacking predator, namely, the Sperm Whale. It is even theorized that this may be the reason behind the purported Squid attacks on Whaling vessels; a preemptive defensive strike against a known predator: a whale. The squids may have mistaken whaling vessels (and smaller pleasure craft like rowboats, of which there are recorded accounts of squid attacks) as predator, as being a threat to them.

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This is a beak of a Giant Squid, this horn-like material in the general shape like a parrot’s beak. Captured prey is held in the knot of squid arms while the beak-like device rips and shreds the prey, consuming it while still alive.

True ‘Night Vision’ In the Giant Squid

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Giant squid have the largest eyes of any animal known to exist. Their eyes can be 12 inches in diameter! Such large eyes would be necessary to see in the inky depths of the ocean deep. Their eyes are extremely effective too for they can detect bioluminescent light, scarce in the deep waters of the ocean. This can aid them in detecting potential food items which might use bioluminescence for attracting their own prey or attracting/signaling mates. It also aids them to to detect dangers from farther way, approaching predators.

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The Giant squid and a few other squid specie have a neutral buoyancy technique that differs from that of ordinary fish. Fish use gas-filled swim bladders to maintain neutral buoyancy, neither sinking nor floating thus conserving energy to not have to constantly ‘adjust’ their spatial depth. Giant squid however, use an ammonium chloride solution in their systems, flowing freely throughout their body, which is lighter than seawater and thus maintaining buoyancy. This is why Giant, Colossal and a few other squid species are unpalatable to humans for food. –They taste like ammonia! There is nothing nastier than a cat-litter box taste to effectively make someone dislike calamari, eh? Apparently, Sperm Whales don’t mind, they still eat the Giant and Colossal Squid. ‘Battle scars’ around the face, neck and snouts of of hunted whales attest to some horrific struggles that must have taken place. Surely, nearly every single battle ended unfavorably for the squid for once in the toothed maw of a great whale, death is nearly inevitable.

Life Size Model of a Giant Squid

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Seattle’s Pike Place Market houses this life-size model of a Giant Squid. Made from sheets of copper with fiberglass and steel support armature, this model shows the two main tentacles that shoot straight out from the body in unison and ‘snag’ the prey fish with hooks, drawing it quickly back to the waiting arms and hungry beak. This is the stuff of nightmares, this most alien of species that owns the depths of our oceans.

Giant Squid On Ice, At Melbourne Aquarium

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Here is a 12-m long Giant Squid, on ice, at the Aquarium in Melbourne, Australia. Kept on ice to preserve the specimen, one cannot help but wonder how big these terrifying creatures can really attain? And how long do they live? Giant Squid produce what is called ‘statocycsts’ in their horn-like beaks. Like growth rings on trees, they can be counted to determine the age. The beaks that are used in these calculations are the indigestible remains, found in the stomachs of sperm whales, the chef predator of the adult squids. Whales taken in hunting during the hunt in its death would often vomit its stomach contents, disgorging these terrifying creatures onto the decks of whaling ships. Surely the first whalers must have been shocked and terrified to witness these dead creatures, and wondered about them.

Juvenile Giant Squid have been reported in surface waters off New Zealand and there are plans to capture and maintain some of them in a large aquarium for study and to learn more about the creature and its habits, and its life.

Stumble It!