The giant squid is the largest of all known species of squid and the largest invertebrate on the planet and is believed to inhabit all of the world’s oceans and has been discovered so far in the northern part of the world. The Atlantic Ocean, Gulf of Mexico, northern part of the Pacific Ocean, Sea of Japan, Bering Sea, Hawaii, California and in the southern oceans. The giant squid is one of the most mysterious creatures because it lives in very deep and cold waters which are not easily accessible for scientists and divers All known data on giant squid is based on the carcasses that appear from time to time on the beaches of the world whole.
A staggering 10.5 inches across, a squid’s eyeballs lack the jelly-like substance that gives ours their shape.
Giant squid is one of the biggest animals on the planet. Largest specimen had 59 feet in length and almost one ton of weight. It was a female, which are normally larger than males. Average size of the male is around 33 feet and 440 pounds in weight.
On average, female giant squid are around twice the size of males from the tip of their beaks to the ends of their two longest tentacles.
Giant squid can be long as a school bus.
The giant squid’s main enemy is the sperm whale.
Giant squid has large head, eight arms and two tentacles used for grabbing of the prey.
A genetic analysis in 2013 suggested that Architeuthis duxis the only species of giant squid, as revealed by a comparison of 43 specimens from around the world.
Giant squid has strong jaws which are shaped like a parrot beak.
The giant squid gene pool seemed abnormally shallow—all 43 subjects were pretty much indistinguishable in this regard.
Diet of the giant squid consists of other squids, fish and shrimps. Scientists believe that giant squid can attack and eat small whales.
One giant squid corpse found in Canada in 1968 had a partially regenerated tentacle.
Tentacles are equipped with four rows of suction cups with hooks which facilitate catching of the prey. Once they catch the prey, tentacles transport it to the arms which deliver the food to the mouth. Although numerous, 10 feet long arms are not used for the catching of the prey.
The giant squid regularly show up inside sperm whale stomachs.
Although giant squids look like monsters which aggressively hunt and kill their prey, they are actually ambush predators who rather wait for the prey to appear on its own. They do not seek for food actively because they need to preserve the energy.
Nobody has ever documented a pair of giant squid haveing sex.
Since giant squids live on the depth of 3000 to 6000 feet, they have huge eyes which enable them to detect objects in the lightless ambient. Eye of the giant squid has 10 inches in diameter. It is the size of the beach ball.
In 1873, Newfoundland minister Moses Harvey acquired a dead Architeuthis which he laid out over his shower curtain rod and preserved for posterity.
Giant squids move like all other Cephalopods by rapidly expelling the water from their mantle. Due to their size, they can expel a lot of water, which make them one of the fastest squids in the sea.
Bits and pieces of one Architeuthis showed up in a live giant squid’s stomach.
The only known predator of the giant squid is the sperm whale.
Giant squids have to be really careful while swallowing, because if a given meal isn’t broken down into small pieces first, it can rub against the brain and cause damage.
Just like other squids, giant squid is able to release ink which masks the trails and facilitates its escape. Some deep squids produce and release luminescent ink.
They are the largest invertebrate on Earth.
Group of the giant squids is called school.
The largest found (while fishing off the coast in Japan) while still alive was 24 feet in length.
Males reach sexual maturity before females. Although mating between giant squids has never been recorded, scientists believe that male delivers (injects) sperm into the ventral arms of the female and that she stores it until the time of spawning.
Having large eyes allows them to detect other objects in the deep depths of the ocean where other animals would see nothing.
Length of the male’s reproductive organ equals the length of its body, excluding the head.
The giant squid maneuvers their massive body with fins and use their funnel as a propulsion system, which draws water into their mantle and then they force it out the back.
Giant squids do not live long. Females die immediately after spawning, at the age of three years.
