The Tales of Giant Squid

Giant, menacing monsters of the sea have been written about for centuries. Sailors have told incredible stories of being attacked by monsters with enormous flailing tentacles and huge, black, menacing eyes that hypnotized men! In the classic "20,000 leagues under the sea," the underwater ship the Nautilus was attacked by a giant monster.

These stories probably originated from sightings of the largest marine invertebrate - the giant squid. Invertebrate are animals which lack a spine. Giant squid are among the fastest animals in the ocean. These huge creatures have the ability to propel themselves up to 20 miles per hour through the water and even launch themselves out of the water. This unnerving appearance of a sea monster which could also fly must have terrified sailors on whaling ships.

These enormous animals live in the deepest oceans, rarely surfacing and staying hidden from humans. The giant squid is a voracious eater, devouring up to 500 pounds of fish, crab, shark or any other ocean animal per day. It grabs its prey with its long tentacles and tears it apart with a giant parrot-like beak,

Until the 1880's, the giant squid was still thought to be legend. But in 1888 a giant 57 foot squid was found washed up on the shores of a beach in New Zealand. The creature had tentacles 35 feet long and eyes larger than a dinner plate! The creature was dead however and to this day we have not seen a giant squid alive.

One of the first discoveries of giant squid was found inside the stomachs of whales. There were only parts of the animals, such as the beak, and so the mystery grew, what was this strange animal, with parts similar to regular squid, but much much larger!

Then in the 1970's a Russian trawler off the coast of Antarctica caught a large squid with a length of 13 feet! Speculations soon arose if there might not be even larger squid out there! Rumors and non-confirmed stories told of giant squid 40 feet long. And so, the squid squad was formed!

What we know of this creature has been learned from dead squid -- whole and parts found in fisherman's nets or washed ashore. A giant squid may weigh over a ton and may stretch 20 meters (over 60 feet). About half of the giant squid's length is composed of two long tentacles -- and eight shorter arms that are covered with suckers. Scientists guess that giant squid are probably very intelligent, since their close cousins, the octopus, are the most intelligent invertebrates known. A large part of the squid's brain is dedicated to its enormous eyes -- each of which is about the size of a human head!

The squid doesn't have bones, but does have a feather-shaped internal support and its brain is encased in cartilage-like structure similar to a skull. The giant squid has the largest eyes of all animals. The squid moves tail first, by jet propulsion. It sucks in water then squirts it out through a funnel-like cavity in its body. When it attacks, it bends its body like a fire hose, and shoots its tentacles forward. But there is still much not known about these animals.

In 1997 the National Museum of Natural History along with the National Marine Fisheries Service of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration decided to solve the mystery and try to answer the questions about this mysterious animal. This was quite a challenge because no-one had actually seen a giant squid alive. They were not sure where to even look for the animal but they are searching the deepest parts of the world's oceans for this elusive animal. Their efforts include using submersibles to search the deep areas. Perhaps soon we will learn more about this creature of legend.

Comprehension questions

1.      What was meant by a giant monster?

2.      Describe the general physical characteristics of the object!

3.      How does it move? Describe it.

4.      How does it eat?

5.      When was the legend proven?

Vocabulary questions:

1.      What is the meaning of “menacing”?

2.      What is the meaning of “elusive”?

3.      What is the meaning of “submersible”?