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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 59 feet in length and weighed ...
- Anatomy, Diversity & Evolution. Anatomy. A giant squid’s body may look pretty simple: Like other squids and octopuses, it has two eyes, a beak, eight arms, two feeding tentacles, and a funnel (also called a siphon).
- Ecology & Behavior. Distribution. Giant squid are thought to swim in the ocean worldwide, based on the beaches they've washed upon, as shown in the map (via Wikimedia Commons).
- Squids at the Smithsonian. Meet Clyde Roper. Dr. Clyde Roper grew up close to the ocean and was a lobster fisherman before going to graduate school, where he studied squid.
- Cultural Connections. Giant Squid of Myth. The giant squid has captured the human imagination for more than 2,000 years. For a long time, people who spotted them floating, dead, at sea or washed up on beaches couldn’t figure out what they were.
The giant squid (Architeuthis dux) is a species of deep-ocean dwelling squid in the family Architeuthidae.
- They’re Gigantic. This isn’t just a comment on their impressive size, it’s also a reference to a biological adaptation known as ‘gigantism’. The deep sea isn’t very well studied, but it’s thought that food down there is incredibly scarce.
- They’re enigmatic. This is a bit of an understatement. Until recently there were so few specimens to go on, and what was collected was generally preserved from whale stomachs or what had washed up on beaches.
- They have the longest tentacles of any squid. These make up most of their amazing length, and the tentacles have hundreds of suction cups between 2-5 cm in size.
- Their lifespan is an unknown. It’s thought that they reach sexual maturity around 3 years old, but the top age can’t be determined. Giant squid have a built-in accelerometer that works like your inner ear, in which a mineralised deposit moves around inside a sensory organ to tell it which way up it’s facing.
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Thought to be the largest or second largest living invertebrate, next to the colossal squid (Mesonychoteuthis hamiltoni), the giant squid has been frequently depicted as a sea monster in literature and by mariners throughout history.
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
Basic facts about Giant squid: lifespan, distribution and habitat map, lifestyle and social behavior, mating habits, diet and nutrition, population size and status.
