Scientists capture first-ever video of giant squid in U.S. waters

JUNE 24, 2019

by Joann Adkins, Florida International University

FIU marine scientists Heather Bracken-Grissom and Lori Schweikert were among a team of researchers gathered around a monitor when the tentacle first came into view. It floated in and out of the darkness offering no hint of what was on the other end. Then, in an elegant explosion of arms and tentacles, the creature revealed itself—the phantom of the deep, known simply as the giant squid.

It is the first time the elusive creature has been caught on camera in U.S. waters—about 100 miles southwest of New Orleans in the Gulf of Mexico. It is only the second time the creature, which can grow up to 40 feet, has ever been captured on camera. The discovery was made toward the end of a 17-day research mission dubbed Journey into Midnight which began June 7.

"It was magical and surreal to see how the animal behaves in nature," Bracken-Grissom said. "To know that I was witnessing something that had only been seen once before in nature filled me with an overwhelming sense of gratitude and respect for what still is to be discovered."

Continued

Divers Find Enormous, Creepy Squid on New Zealand Beach

By Kimberly Hickok, Reference Editor | August 27, 2018 04:33pm ET

Divers visiting New Zealand's south coast of Wellington were looking for a nice spot to go spearfishing Saturday morning (Aug. 25) when they spotted one of the ocean's most impressive creatures of the deep: a dead, but fully intact, giant squid.

"After we went for a dive we went back to [the squid] and got a tape measure out, and it measured 4.2 meters [13 feet] long," one of the divers, Daniel Aplin, told the New Zealand Herald.

A representative from the New Zealand Department of Conservation told the Herald that the divers most likely found a giant squid (Architeuthis dux) and not a colossal squid (Mesonychoteuthis hamiltoni). [Photos of the Stunning Deep-Sea Squid Feeding]

Strange News Snapshot: Week of Aug. 19, 2018

A “sky glow” named ‘Steve’, an ant making a break for it with a diamond , and new signs of life in a field riddled with hundreds of dead headless reindeer.

Both species of squid are formidable sea creatures, with giant squid typically reaching 16 feet (5 m) long, according to the Smithsonian, and the colossal squid reaching over 30 feet (10 m) long, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

Scientists know very little about these deep-sea-dwelling species, because the animals are so rarely seen. Most observations come from the occasional specimen washing ashore, as in this case, or getting accidently captured by fishers.

Continued  

Rare encounter with giant squid caught on video in Japan

DECEMBER 29, 2015

by Chuck Bednar

A fisherman at one Japanese marina got quite a surprise as he prepared to cast off on Thursday morning, spotting a rare 12-foot giant squid swimming beneath boats docked at the facility, and best of all, the entire incident was caught on video.

According to the Wall Street Journal and the Daily Mail, the encounter occurred at Mizuhashi Fisherina in Toyama prefecture, located approximately 250 kilometers northwest of Tokyo, and featured a 3.7 meter (12.1 foot), orange-and-white colored Architeuthis squid.

“It was the first time that we saw a live giant squid here, where water depth is only about 2.5 to 3 meters,” marina manager Tatsuya Wakasugi told the Journal. While he noted that more than a dozen giant squids had been captured in the Toyama Bay this year, all of them had already died or were close to death, with the color of their bodies having turned white.

The squid observed on Christmas Eve had a few scratches on its head, Wakasugi said. While it is unclear why it originally wandered into the marina, as sea and weather conditions were said to be fair, it remained there for several hours and seven swam alongside divers before ultimately being led back out into deeper waters.

Not the biggest squid out there, but impressive nonetheless

The creature was identified as a rare Architeuthis squid after the video of it was posted on social media, according to the Daily Mail. The newspaper noted that these squids can grow to be up to 13 long, making them the longest known to scientists, and weigh as much as 600 pounds.

While the Architeuthis squid, which typically lives an average of five years and reproduces only once during its lifetime, is the longest known squid, it is not necessarily the biggest, according to the Washington Post. That honor goes to the colossal squid (Mesonychoteuthis hamiltoni), which scientists have found to grow as large as 750 kilograms, or 1,650 pounds.

Read more at

Giant Squid and Whale Sharks Aren't As Big As People Think

When it comes to determining the size of giant squid and other large sea animals, humans have a tendency to exaggerate, a new study suggests.

A team of researchers compared scientific and popular media reports of body sizes for 25 species of marine creatures, including whales, sharks, squids, and other giant ocean dwellers, and found that most of the animals were smaller than what was reported.

"It's human nature to tell a "fishing story,'" said Craig McClain, a marine biologist at the National Evolutionary Synthesis Center in Durham, North Carolina. In reality, "we're horrible at saying what the size of something is, without actually taking a measurement."

Continued ...

Giant Squid Caught By Japanese Fishermen - via Simon Reames

A group of Japanese fishermen have landed a giant squid while on the hunt for a completely different catch.

Shigenori Goto and his crew were hoping for a catch of yellowtail fish but instead the mammoth squid - weighing 163kg (360lbs) - came into view in the freezing seas of northern Japan.

"We were about 30 or 40 minutes into our day when we saw this huge reddish-brown thing come swimming up, rising from the depths," the 44-year-old revealed in a telephone interview.

Continued

Elusive Giant Squid Washes Up on Spanish Beach

A giant squid, whose oversized eyes and gargantuan blob of a body make it look more mythical than real beast, washed ashore Tuesday (Oct. 1) at La Arena beach in the Spanish community of Cantabria.

The beast measures some 30 feet (9 meters) in length and weighs a whopping 400 pounds (180 kilograms); and according to news reports, it is a specimen of Architeuthis dux, the largest invertebrate (animals without backbones) on Earth.

The giant squid is currently at the Maritime Museum of Cantabria, according to El Diario Montanes.

Tsunemi Kubodera, a zoologist at Japan's National Science Museum in Tokyo, and his colleagues, captured the first live footage of anArchiteuthis giant squid in its natural habitat in 2012. The video revealed the elusive creature off the Ogasawara Islands, about 620 miles (1,000 kilometers) south of Tokyo at a depth of around 2,066 feet (630 m); the three-man crew aboard a submersible followed the giant squid down to 2,950 feet (900 m).

Read on

Giant squid genetics reveal family secrets

By Ella Davies, Reporter, BBC Nature

Giant squid around the world are "basically identical" despite looking very different, say scientists.

The super-sized cephalopods live deep in the oceans and are little-known by the scientific community.

An international team of researchers investigated rare samples of the elusive animals' DNA to reveal their family secrets.

They discovered that there is just a single species of squid with no population structure.

The findings are published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B.

The giant squid has been a source of fascination both before and beyond its formal description in 1857 by Danish biologist Japetus Steenstrup.

Its deep-dwelling lifestyle is largely unknown but specimens have been found globally, with the exception of Arctic and Antarctic waters.

Read on:  http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/21829711

TV fisherman films shark attacking giant squid off coast of Australia

The giant squid, one of the most elusive creatures of the ocean, was already dead when it was found floating off the coast of New South Wales by Al McGlashan and his crew.

A fishing columnist for Australia's Daily Telegraph, Mr McGlashan was filming for a new series of his television series Strikeforce, when he came across the "mythical" cephalopod.

"In all my time of fishing, I've never seen calamari rings so big," he told local media. "It was massive."

"It must have died not that long before we found it because it didn't smell at all and its colours were still strong - most giant squid remains are smelly and rotten and just off-white by the time someone finds them,"

Soon after the discovery the carcass was soon attacked by an 8ft blue shark, an event that McGlashan and his team were able to record.


Continued:  http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/wildlife/9314376/TV-fisherman-films-shark-attacking-giant-squid-off-coast-of-Australia.html

Anglers' extraordinary find is no sea monster, but a giant squid

Al McGlashan, a prominent big-game fisherman in Australia, ventured to sea Friday afternoon in search of tuna and swordfish. The highlight, however, was the bizarre discovery of a fresh giant squid carcass.

Giant squid are elusive, mysterious denizens of the ocean's darkest depths, believed to have spawned ancient tales of sea monsters. To find even parts of a dead specimen is rare, but to find a specimen largely intact and still with its bright-orange coloration is extraordinary.

"In all my time on the water -- and I've spent 200-plus days out there -- I've never seen anything like it," McGlashen said in a phone interview. 

The discovery occurred 30 miles off Jervis Bay in New South Wales. On board was McGashan's fishing partner, Justin Lewis, a film crew and Phil Bolton, who works for the regional fisheries department. 

The crew obtained underwater footage of the squid being preyed upon by a blue shark, which is posted below.

McGlashen, who writes a weekly column for the Daily Telegraph, was quoted in the newspaper as saying the squid "must have died not that long before we found it because it didn't smell at all and its colors were still strong. Most giant squid remains are smelly and rotten and just off-white by the time someone finds them." 

Giant squid can measure 50-plus feet but the specimen McGlashan and friends found was only a sea monster in waiting, stretching out at about 13 feet. It was missing long portions of its tentacles, however, perhaps because of a deep-sea battle with a sperm whale.

Sperm whales are the only large predators to specifically target giant squid in the abyss. The clashes between species were legendary in books and on the silver screen, even though in real life the battles are generally one-sided.

"Sperm whales are far bigger, heavier and faster in the water -- the giant squid are quite slow -- so the whale generally wins," Mandy Reid of the Australian Museum told the Telegraph. 

As a testament to the elusive nature of giant squid, the first images of a live giant squid in its natural habitat were not captured until 2004, by Japanese scientists 600 miles south of Tokyo, in a known sperm whale feeding area. They dropped a baited line with a special camera to about 3,000 feet and snagged a 26-foot squid, which stayed on the hook for several hours. 


McGlashan and friends were also fishing in an area where sperm whales are often sighted, though none were sighted on this excursion. A lone albatross sitting on some kind of clump is what lured the fishermen to the squid carcass. 

The anglers collected tissue samples and the beak for the museum, then left the rest for the blue shark and other scavengers. 



http://www.grindtv.com/outdoor/blog/33793/anglers+extraordinary+find+is+no+sea+monster+but+a+giant+squid/

Giant squid eyes are sperm whale defence

By Richard BlackEnvironment correspondent, BBC News

The world's biggest squid species have developed huge eyes to give early warning of approaching sperm whales.

Colossal and giant squid both have eyes that can measure 27cm (11in) across - much bigger than any fish.

Scientists found that huge eyes offer no advantages in the murky ocean depths other than making it easier to spot enormous shapes - such as sperm whales.

Writing in current Biology journal, they say this could explain the equally huge eyes of fossil ichthyosaurs.

Lead scientist Dan Nilsson from Lund University in Sweden was present at the unique dissection of a colossal squid performed four years ago in New Zealand.

There, he examined and handled the eyes - in particular, the hard parts of the lens.

Read on:  http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-17365736

Giant Squid, 23 Feet Long, Found By Florida Fishermen

Three fishermen in Stuart, Florida were in for a huge surprise when searching for a catch off Jensen Beach this past weekend. "It was just something that we'd never seen in our lives before," Robert Benz told WPTV.

The three men found a 23-foot-long, 200-pound giant squid floating dead in the Atlantic. Giant squid are known for being an extremely elusive and mysterious creature, and WPTV claims the find was very rare for those waters.

The fishermen took the massive creature to the local commercial docks to see if anyone there had ever seen one. Not surprisingly, they hadn't

While the massive creature was quite the shock, giant squids are actually known to grow much larger. Ellie Van Os, director of education and exhibits for the Florida Oceanographic Society, told TCPalm that they can grow up to 45 feet long and weigh up to a ton.

See video here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/07/01/giant-squid-florida-fishermen-video_n_888905.html?ir=Weird News