Until recently, the Giant Squid was just thought of as another myth. It is the biggest invertebrate on this planet, but is still a mystery to scientists. The largest one seen so far weighed about a ton and measured a length of 59 feet. They still remain a mystery to scientists and are difficult to study because they live in very deep sea habitats. Scientists have only really studied them from when giant squid carcasses have washed up on beaches or were accidentally caught by fishermen.
However, we are beginning to learn more about them. The first images of a live giant squid in its natural deep sea habitat was in the year 2004. These photographs were taken by Japanese researchers. Added to this, a video was taken eight years ago of an adult giant squid in its own habitat. Another video was taken five years ago. Last year, researchers released another appearance video in its habitat. It’s been discovered that the giant squid has the biggest eyes in the animal kingdom which is about 10 inches across in diameter. They have 8 arms and have 2 tentacles for feeding. The tentacles bring food to their mouth. They eat fish and shrimp, and other squid. Some researchers think they attack and eat small whales. They live in the oceans globally except for in super polar or tropical waters. They have been found near continental slopes around North Atlantic oceans, Norway, Newfoundland, Spain, and the islands of the Azores and Madeira, the South Atlantic ocean, the North Pacific ocean, as well as the Southwestern Pacific ocean. So as you can see, the giant squid lives in many places around the world except near polar or tropical waters. 14 years ago in 2006, Scott Cassell, a diver and researcher from America, had led an expedition. It was to the Gulf of California. He wanted to videotape a giant squid in its deep sea habitat. His team used a squid carrying device, which is a type of camera that would be attached to its fin, The squid with the camera attached to it was a giant squid, It had an estimated length of about forty feet. Scott Cassell claimed the video had factual and scientific errors so he distanced himself from this video. Last June, another expedition was run by the NOAA. Two biologists captured a video of a young Giant Squid at about 2490 feet under the surface of the water near the Gulf of Mexico, like where the last expedition was in 2006. A NOAA Fisheries zoologist confirmed the film was of a genus called Architeuthis. The organism was measured in the film to be between ten and twelve feet. I think it is so fascinating that evidence of this giant squid happened for the first time only a few years ago, during my lifetime. Information brought from this giant squid could help us learn information on other similar creatures. This reminds me that there could be so many creatures in our oceans that are yet to be discovered. |