Holy Squid! Photos Offer First
Glimpse of Live Deep-Sea Giant Like something straight out
of a Jules Verne novel, an enormous tentacle creature looms out of the inky
blackness of the deep Pacific waters. But this isn’t science
fiction. A set of extraordinary images captured by Japanese scientists mark the
first-ever record of a live giant squid (Architeuthis) in the wild.
The animal--which measures roughly 25 feet (8 meters) long--was
photographed 2,950 feet (900 meters) beneath the North Pacific Ocean. Japanese
scientists attracted the squid toward cameras attached to a baited fishing
line. The scientists say they snapped more than 500 images of
the massive cephalopod before it broke free alter snagging itself on a hook.
They also recovered one of the giant squid’s two longest tentacles, which
severed during its struggle. The photo sequence, taken off
Japan’s Ogasawara Islands in September 2004, shows the squid homing in on the
baited line and enveloping it in "a ball of tentacles." Tsunemi
Kubodera of the National Science Museum in Tokyo and Kyoichi Mori of the
Ogasawara Whale Watching Association report their observations this week in the
journal proceedings of the Royal Society B. "Architeuthis
appears to be a much more active predator than previously suspected, using its
elongated feeding tentacles to strike and tangle prey," the researchers
write. They add that the squid was found feeding at depths where
no light penetrates even during the day. Giant
Breakthrough Despite people’s fascination with this deep-sea
behemoth, the giant squid’s life and habits have remained largely a mystery. The
little information known has been mostly based on dead and dying specimens that
were caught by commercial fishing boats or washed ashore. The
mysterious creature has inspired countless sea monster tales and has been the
subject of various scientific expeditions. Since the mid 1990s
there have been a number of research trips in search of giant squid. Cameras
attached to deep-diving subs or sperm whales have been used to try to capture
the elusive animals on film, but without success. The Japanese
researchers used sperm whales as guides to help them pinpoint likely giant squid
haunts. Over the years whalers have reported finding a high number of large
squid beaks in the mammals’ stomachs, pegging sperm whales as primary predators
of large squid. The images are generating considerable
excitement among squid experts. "I think it’s wonderful that
we’ve finally got a picture of a living giant squid," said Richard Ellis, a
research associate at the American Museum of Natural History in New York and
author of The Search for the Giant Squid. "I thought it would
only be a matter of time before someone got images of Architeuthis," he
added. "After all, it’s not an endangered species, not even all
that rare, and it’s one of the largest of all invertebrates. So the Japanese
film finaly breaks through and renders the statement ’nobody has ever seen a
living giant squid’ inoperative." Squid expert Martin Collins of
the British Antarctic Survey based in Cambridge, England, says the new images
are a "fantastic" achievement. The marine biologist says he was
skeptical that a dedicated giant squid hunt would succeed. He thought the first
wild sighting would probably come by accident. "Fair play to
these guys who’ve made the effort, gone out there and looked in what riley
thought was a good area, and found it," he said. Hunting for
Clues Collins is especially interested in clues the images
might provide to the way giant squid swim and hunt in the deep ocean.
"Seeing the animals on film gives you a tremendous insight into how they
live down there," he said. "It shows they are pretty active animals, and that
answers a big question that’s been out there for some time."
Collins says there were two competing schools of thought among giant squid
experts. "One was the idea that [giant squid] were fairly
inactive and just drifted around, dangling their tentacles below them like
fishing lures to catch what came by," he said. "The other theory
was that they were actually quite active. This new evidence supports this,
suggesting they are active predators which can move reasonably
quickly." "The efforts the squid want to untangle itself [from
the baited fishing line] also shows they are capable of quite strong and rapid
movement," he added. The study team reports that the severed
tentacle repeatedly gripped the boat deck and crew after it was hauled aboard.
The squid’s tentacles are armed with suckers, each ringed with tiny teeth to
help snare prey. Measuring 18 feet (5.5 meters) long, analysis
of the tentacle confirmed it came from a giant squid and allowed the researchers
to estimate the total length of the animal. But the researchers
caution that their data assume the tentacle was severed at its base. If not, the
squid may have been considerably larger. The longest giant squid on record
measured 59 feet (18 meters), including its two elongated
tentacles. Shedding Light on Giant Squid Giant
squid, along with their close cousins colossal squid (Mesonychoteuthis), have
the largest eyes of any animal. "Giant squid do have
particularly large eyes, which would suggest vision is important to them. Having
a large eye isn’t unusual in deep-sea animals--you see it quite often in
fish." The fact that the animal caught on film was swimming in
total darkness suggests the species detects prey using alternative light source.
"The only light down there is likely to be light produced by other animals,"
said Collins of the British Antarctic Survey. The Japanese team
thinks that research techniques similar to their own could be used to bring
about more close encounters with giant squid. Ellis of the American Museum of
Natural History agrees. "I’m sure we can learn a lot from an
analysis of these images," he said. "And now that we have an idea of where to
look for [the squid], we will undoubtedly get more pictures." The passage talks mainly about the studying of a live giant squid by American scientists.