The Mysterious Giant Squid

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The Mysterious Giant Squid

About 80 percent of the Earth is covered in water. With the majority of life on this planet residing in the liquid we like to call the essence of life, we as humans represent a minority on this planet. Much of the underwater world remains a mystery to us, with the giant squid being one of the greatest mysteries of them all. How close are we to actually solving the mystery of this deep water giant?

For the first known citing of one of these creatures, you would have to go back to November of 1861, when crew members of the French dispatch steamer Alecton spotted what appeared to be a large sea monster off the coast of the Canary Islands. The crew threw harpoons at the creature, but those would not stay in the flesh for long. When the crew got close enough to put a noose around the creature, the rope tightened and cut through the animal, causing most of it to sink to the bottom of the sea. The crew, however, managed to pull the tail of the creature on board, and bring it back to the French Consul. From there the tail and a report about the creature made its way to the French Academy of Sciences.

Giant squid, of which there are many different species, have been spotted less than fifty times in the last century, but none have been seen in their natural habitat, the depths of the sea, or caught on tape. It was initially thought that squids only lived very deep in the ocean from 200-1000 meters beneath the surface, an area very difficult for scientists to study. Why then have these squids been seen at the ocean’s surface?

According to Dr. Malcolm Clarke of the Marine Biological Association, temperature affects the squid’s buoyancy mechanism. The warmer, shallower water will cause a giant squid to rise to the surface and not be able to get back down. With water temperature at it’s highest at the surface the squid would without a doubt not be able to get back down, thus resulting in people seeing giant squids at the surface of the ocean.

Occasionally, a giant squid will wash up on shore or will come up in a fishing net, which has allowed scientists to get a close observation of these squid and their anatomy.

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