Chase McAndrew

Marine bio 6th Period

4/3/20
Giant Squid. Learn about the elusive giant squid and our quest to find it
I learned that the giant squid has only been known about for only 16 years and
have barely any evidence of it. The giant squid has only been documented 3 different
times ever. They live around the coast of many different places. The squids are around
4 meters in length.
The giant squid species are in the ​family​ Architeuthidae. The maximum size a
giant squid can reach is 12 m (39 ft) or 13 m (43 ft) for females and 10 m (33 ft) for
males. In 2004, Japanese researchers took the first images of a live giant squid in its
natural habitat, and in July 2012, a live adult was first filmed in its natural habitat off
Chichijima. In 2015, another video sighting was released. In June 2019, scientists
reported the video appearance, for the second time, and for the first time in waters of
the United States, of a giant squid in its deepwater habitat. ​They are usually found near
island slopes from the North Atlantic Ocean, especially Newfoundland, Norway, the
northern British Isles, Spain and the oceanic islands of the Azores and Madeira, to the
South Atlantic around​ southern Africa, the North Pacific around Japan, and the
southwestern Pacific around New Zealand and Australia. The giant squid is the second
largest mollusc and one of the largest invertebrates. The first image of a giant squid was
taken on January 15th 2002, on Goshiki beach, ​Amino Cho​, Kyoto Prefecture, Japan.
The squid measured about 2 m in ​mantle​ length and 4 m in total length. It was found
near the water's surface. In November 2006, two American explorers went on an
expedition with the goal of filming a giant squid in their natural habitat. Giant squid feed
on deep sea fish and other squid species. They catch prey using the two tentacles
gripping it with sucker rings on the ends. Then they bring it toward their powerful beak,
and break it up with the radula before it reaches the esophagus.

Giant squid, ​Architeuthis​ sp., modified from an illustration by ​A.E. Verrill​, 1880
One of the series of images of a live giant squid taken by Kubodera and Mori in 2004

The specimen from Goshiki beach is seen here tied with a rope, its
delicate skin only partially intact. Muscular constriction around the squid's eye obscures much of its surface in
this image.​[52]
The giant squid is a magnificent creature. The giant squid was thought of as a
mythical creature in folklords. Now, because we investigated we found the giant squid.
It's crazy to think about what could be down in the deep deep ocean.

An illustration from the original edition of ​Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the
Sea​ depicting a giant squid

“Giant Squid.” ​Wikipedia​, Wikimedia Foundation, 10 Mar. 2020,

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giant_squid.