The Giant Squid
What do giant squid look like? How do they behave? What do you need to know about giant squid?
The ocean has been a lair of secrecy. Stories of giant squids emerging from the deep conquering anything in their wake have been tossed around by sailors for centuries. These stories, while entertaining have
always been somewhat unsubstainated, causing a great mystery for scientists.
Though there is little information available the giant squid is believed to be the largest creature of the deep, measuring at over 60 feet in length. Its hubcap shaped eyes are the largest in the entire animal kingdom and its
nerve fibers are so long that some are mistaken for blood vessles. The beast's 10 large tentacles are covered with giant suction cups that can crush and devour its chosen prey.
No one has ever observed the giant squid in its natural habitat. Countless expeditions have been launched in an effort to find this marvel of the sea but none have been successful. Squids have gotten caught in fishermen's
deepest nets and dead or dying ones have occasionally washed ashore but these examples have been picked at by other predators along the way. This lack of information about how the giant squid eats, rests, mates and lives
creates a mystery around the giant squid that few animals have.
This may all change when Dr Clyde F.E. Roper of the National Museum of Natural History begins his $5 million expedition to observe the squid in action. He plans on traveling to the South Pacific around New Zealand.
Dr. Roper has studied the giant squid for decades but has never seen one alive.
Roper is basing his search to locate the squid on the food chain. After carefully studying who eats whom, it was revealed that the giant squid feeds on certain types of fish that are becoming depleted due to over-fishing. This has led them to move on to sperm whales, a giant in its
own right. Since there is much knowledge available on the habitat of sperm whales, scientists are hoping that one mammoth mammal will lead them to another.