A rare occurrence indeed! Watch as a giant squid is found on a Western Cape beach.
A giant squid recently washed up on Britannia Bay Beach in the Western Cape. After videos of the squid were shared rapidly on social media, various news reports about the giant squid started to appear.
It's reported that the squid was still alive when it was found, and can be seen moving slightly at various points in the videos shared by Maroela Media, but according to reports, those who found the squid were unfortunately unable to roll the squid back into the water. Richard Davies, who made the discovery on Sunday, 7 June, estimated that this giant squid weighed between 200 and 300 kilograms, and was measured to be 4,19 metres in length.
ABOUT THE GIANT SQUID
This "discovery" was actually a very rare occurrence. National Geographic says that the giant squid remains largely a mystery to scientists despite being the biggest invertebrate on Earth. The largest of these elusive giants ever found measured 18 meters in length and weighed nearly 900 kilograms.
However, their inhospitable deep-sea habitat has made them uniquely difficult to study, and almost everything scientists know about them is from carcasses that have washed up on beaches or been hauled in by fishermen. Lately, however, the fortunes of scientists studying these elusive creatures have begun to turn. In 2004 researchers in Japan took the first images ever of a live giant squid. And in late 2006, scientists with Japan's National Science Museum caught and brought to the surface a live female giant squid.
Giant squid, along with their cousin, the colossal squid, have the largest eyes in the animal kingdom. These massive organs allow them to detect objects in the lightless depths where most other animals would see nothing. Like other squid species, they have eight arms and two longer feeding tentacles that help them bring food to their beak-like mouths. Their diet likely consists of fish, shrimp, and other squids, and some suggest they might even attack and eat small whales.
Rowan Cocoan I remember reading somewhere* that giant squid are inedible, due to ammonia levels in the flesh. Apparently this is what keeps them neutrally bouyant
* Okay, okay, it was in "Beast", by Peter Benchley. Did a quick search, seems he's correct.
Fester True. Benchley got a lot wrong about Architeuthis Dux but according to squid expert Richard Ellis the Giant Squid has far too many ammonium ions in it's flesh to be edible for humans.
For some reason increased numbers of giant squid strandings occur at 60 year intervals at various locations around the world.
some suggest they might even attack and eat small whales.
I've read of an adult sperm whale washed up dead on a beach that had sucker marks on its skin indicating that the squid had tentacles long enough to encircle the whale's body between 3 and 4 times. Was a long time ago, can't remember source. Maybe "Strange Stories & Amazing Facts", published by Reader's Digest?
Fester I've seem Sperm Whales washed upon beaches here in NZ with large sucker marks, but this can be deceiving. The whale's scars can be from when it was a juvenile and they expand as the whale grows.
RIH, bitch!
R.C.