Giant Squid
A common villain in ocean adventure stories, the giant squid began its relationship with man as a sea monster. Today, its existence is undoubted and it has a scientific name, Architeuthis, but little is known about how it lives. There are several species of giant squid that exceed 7 feet in length. There are other squids that are also huge, such as the Colossal squid.
Most squid are small, have a torpedo-shaped body, eight arms plus two longer tentacles. The arms and tentacles are lined with disc-shaped suckers. Squid are very numerous in the ocean and are eaten by whales. There are several accounts of sperm whales battling giant squid. A fantastic photo of a whale with leftover squid pieces in its mouth can be seen here.
While we know that whales eat squid, the squid probably don’t eat anything larger than themselves – that is, squid do not eat whales.
The ultimate length of a giant squid is difficult to determine since the two tentacles extend much longer than the body or other arms. Some recovered specimens washed on shore or found in fishing nets are not complete enough to judge total size. The length of the main body (mantle) can exceed 6 feet with tentacles over 20 feet. There are specimens, body parts and eyewitness accounts that tell of giants far larger than that. Several expeditions to find and capture live giant squid on film have met with failure but a rare few have been successful, as shown in the picture on the left.
With their elusive lifestyle they remain mysterious monsters of the deep.
REALITY CHECK: Absolutely real and maybe even more common that we expected.
MORE INFORMATION:
Monsters of the Sea, (book) by Richard Ellis
The Search for the Giant Squid (book) by Richard Ellis
Smithsonian: In Search of Giant Squid
TONMO: The Octopus News magazine
KQED Giant Squid
YOUR TURN:
- People found giant squid washed up dead on the beach. How did that affect the historical story of a giant monster squid we tell now? What does that signify for other mythical sea creatures like mermaids and sea serpents?
- Do you think there is another mythical monster that will really be found? Which one and why?
