Giant Squid: Origin and conservation

Our planet is a space where life flourishes in its most varied expressions. Today we want to know about the amazing giant squid, these very rare monsters of the deep, they are titans with long tentacles, advancing in dark waters to hunt, to catch their prey with that characteristic beak and crush their victims.

Giant squids have populated our seas for a long time, their history always has a starting point that goes from the mythological and the real. A lot of fantasy has been woven around the life of these silent beings of the abyss, and we know very little about them. Several devices have been designed to reach these marine depths to find out how they live, how they hunt and how they mate, but unfortunately very little progress has been made.

In the meantime, we get some references from great historians who like Aristotle, who lived in the 4th century B.C., described a squid of great size, which he called teuthus, distinguishing it from the smaller squid, the teuthis. He mentions that "of the squids the teuthus is much larger than the teuthis; among the teuthi [plural of teuthus] specimens up to five fathoms in size have been found." As well Pliny the Elder, who lived in the 1st century A.D., also described a gigantic squid in his Naturalis Historia, with a head "as big as a barrel," arms 9.1 m long, and a body mass of 320 kg.

As is known, stories about giant squids have been common among sailors since ancient times. The existence of these stories dates back to the Norwegian legend of the kraken, to which we will refer later. In 1755 that word was used to describe a large sea serpent swimming near a ship off the coast of Norway.

Japetus Steenstrup produced a series of papers on the giant squid in the 1850's. It was he who coined the term "Architeuthis", using it to define giant squid, in a paper in 1857. A part of a giant squid was saved by the French ship Alecton in 1861, this finding allowed a greater knowledge by the scientific community of the species/genus. Between 1870 and 1880, a large number of squid were found stranded off the coast of Newfoundland. For example, a specimen from Thimble Tickle Bay in Newfoundland, found on November 2, 1878, was 6.1 m long.

One of its tentacles was 10.7 m long and was estimated to have a weight of 2.2 t. In 1873, a squid "attacked" a minister and a child on a Dory on Bell Island, Newfoundland. Giant squid have also been found stranded in New Zealand in the late 19th century.

Although strandings continue to occur sporadically around the world, they have never occurred as frequently as those that occurred in Newfoundland and New Zealand during the 19th century. It is not known why some giant squid become stranded on beaches, but it may be because, due to the difference in depth, the cold water in which the squid live is temporarily altered.

In 2004, a giant squid, later named "Archie", was caught off the coast of the Falkland Islands by a trawler. It was 8.62 m long and was transferred to the Natural History Museum in London for study and preservation. It was displayed in an exhibition at the museum on March 1, 2006. Finds of a complete specimen are very rare, as most specimens are found in poor condition after being washed up on beaches when dead or recovered from the stomachs of dead sperm whales.

After having quickly reviewed their origin and scientific data, we would like to point out their main characteristics, which undoubtedly make this animal an emblematic figure of the cold seas.

Although very small at birth, giant squids grow at an unusual speed. They are aggressive, intelligent and true wizards of camouflage. The largest specimen ever known weighs just over a ton and is 22 meters long. A spectacular creature that has eight tentacles with suction cups, a more than skillful weapon to easily seize its prey.

Its life is spent in the darkness of the depths, between five hundred and four thousand meters deep in our oceans and seas. It is from there that it emerges, from time to time, to amaze and terrify us. The Norwegians called it Kraken, and that is the most common name by which it is known, but science catalogued it years ago as Architeuthis dux, a giant cephalopod with countless legends surrounding its shocking presence.

But a question arises: When did the first giant squid appear?

As we have seen, the world's largest squid is one of those monsters of the deep that have been hanging around our planet for centuries and even longer. But it was in the 19th century when the first specimen was caught. It was in Spain, on the island of Tenerife. The crew of a French warship saw an orange shadow hovering around the ship, something strange that the sailors did not hesitate to harpoon and hunt.

Be that as it may, the men must have been quite surprised to catch this gigantic being, eight meters long and with a spectacular head. So much so that they did not hesitate to exhibit it in the port of Santa Cruz to cause the horror of onlookers and sailors. Later, the French Academy of Sciences registered the discovery and it became part of the research of the famous naturalists Henri Crosse and Paul Fischer on the "céphalopodes gigantesques" or giant squids.

What is the life of a giant squid like?

Giant squids are usually very solitary creatures, fleeing from herds. Their size is what stands out the most about this species, since they do not stop growing from the moment they are born. Another characteristic of the world's largest squid is that it is a very aggressive and violent creature. In fact, data is currently being obtained that they could practice cannibalism with their own species.

Its body is articulated with a shell under its skin, a substance that gives it rigidity and buoyancy. The respiration of giant squids is another curiosity of the species. They breathe through gills. They are incredible swimmers. They can accelerate or stop in a second thanks to a tube-shaped muscle that acts as a siphon while giving direction and direction to the animal.

The world's largest squid has a highly developed sense of sight. Their eyes can see in the dark and are the size of a pumpkin. They have a very powerful beak with which they crush their victims.

Giant squids feed on fish, sharks, rays, rays, shrimps, crabs and sometimes, as we mentioned before, on their own companions. They are true camouflage artists. They have small ammonia capsules and an ink sac. The top predator of the giant squid is the sperm whale. They usually live between three and five years.

Where are they found?

They are found in all oceans although it is rare to find them in tropical and polar waters.10 They have been found in the North Atlantic, Scotland, Ireland, South Africa, New Zealand and Spain, specifically in the Carrandi fishing grounds, between 18 and 30 miles (vertical of Colunga) and in the Canary Islands. Cepesma has 21 giant squids of different species. The Architeuthis on display range from 6 m to 13 m in length. The first specimen is an immature female of 1.5 years old and 147 kg. The second specimen weighs 140 kg and has tentacles 6.5 m long. There are also specimens of 120, 114, 107 kg, among the largest.

Are they in danger of extinction?

The Committee for the Sustainable Management of the Giant Squid of the South Pacific (Calamasur), made up of fishing companies and fishermen from Peru, Chile, Ecuador and Mexico, proposed to improve the control and conservation of the giant squid or "pota" in the Pacific Ocean. This was expressed during their III annual meeting held on December 12 and 13 in Lima in the year 2022.

The event brought together artisanal fishermen, processors, scientists, NGOs and observers from Peru. Chile, Ecuador and Mexico to define Calamasur's actions in relation to the advances in the sustainable management of giant squid in the South Pacific Regional Fisheries Management Organization (RFMO-SP).

At the meeting they addressed various issues such as the need to take management measures to reduce fishing effort in the High Seas of the South Pacific, as well as to improve observer coverage on vessels fishing in areas under the jurisdiction of the international organization.

Undoubtedly, the stories and mystery surrounding this powerful marine animal fill us with more questions than answers, but it is one of the main products we offer to our consumers, and at Pescatore Seafood we start from the principle of responsible fishing and take advantage of all the by-products we can obtain from this millenary animal.