FACTS ABOUT THE COLOSSAL SQUID AND WHY THE SCIENTIFIC COMMUNITY FINDS THEM FASCINATING
The Giant squid are often featured in maritime legends and novels such as Jules Verne’s 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.
The most famous part of the novel, the battle against the school of giant squid, begins when a crewman opens the hatch of the boat and gets caught by one of the monsters. As he is being pulled away by the tentacle that has grabbed him, he yells “Help!” in French.
Colossal Squid, also known as the Giant Cranch or Antartic Squid, was first brought to the scientific community in 1925 as a specimen composed of two tentacles found in the stomach of a sperm whale. In spite of its discovery, it was only in 2003 that the public had been made aware of its existence. Though little is known about the specie, biologists believe that Colossal Squid compose 77% of the sperm whale’s diet. In spite of their size, this specie is believed to be a prey of other Antartic creatures such as that of the pilot whale, Patagonian toothfish, beaked whales, and Pacific sleeper shark.
Colossal and Giant Squid
The largest discovered specimen weighed only 495 kg, three hundred kilograms heavier than that was discovered back in 2003. What made Colossal Squid to be unique, than that of the giant squid, is its relatively shorter arms that are composed of composed of swiveling, and to some a three-pointed, sharp hooks and suckers with small teeth. Other characteristics of the Colossal Squid include,
* A beak that exceeds that of the giant in terms of size and robustness
* Eyes that are believed to be the biggest in the Kingdom Animalia
In spite of the continuous analysis conducted to know the biological composition of the squid, the behavior, location, diet, and life pattern of this specie is relatively unknown.
In aggregating the data that had been compiled since 1925, biologists and researchers could only infer from the geographic distribution of its predators that the specie could be found in abundant in the Antartic area. However, sperm whales and albatross are known to migrate for a thousand kilometers making the exact location of the Colossal Squid still unclear at present.
Size of the Colossal Squid
In spite of the popularity of the specie in terms of its size, the scientific community primarily believes that there is nothing really fascinating about it. ‘There has been considerable debate at an academic level as to whether the Colossal Squid is actually the largest squid, because the Giant Squid attains a greater total length,’ says Dr. O’Shea and Kat Bolstad of the Octopus News Magazine Online.
The Defrosting and Dissection in 2008
The result of the thawing and dissection of the Colossal Squid found in 2007 primarily suggest that the specie could actually grow bigger than 495 kilograms as the specimen found in the stomach in the sperm whale in 2005 is much larger. Results of the procedures includes revealed the presence of ovaries.
Other Information
Feeding Habits: The Colossal Squid primarily feeds through its narrow esophagus. In spite of the specimen that was studied in 2008, the scientific community defers to make generalizations on its specific diet as no intact stomach had been found. Behavior, including on how the specimen was caught in 2007 in Ross Sea, suggests that their diet may have been composed mostly of toothfish and, in some cases, that of other Colossal Squid.
Reproduction: Though scientists hardly have a clue on the specie’s reproductive cycle, both the academic and scientific community primarily believes that the male Colossal Squid could have directly implanted sperm into the female using penis.
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