The mention of giant squids may evoke tales of mythical ship-destroying Krakens from Scandinavian mythology. True giant squids inhabit depths of at least 900 meters below the ocean’s surface and are not known to attack ships.
Scientists continue to uncover new insights into the life of giant squids. In the past decade, researchers have managed to capture footage of these elusive giants in their natural environment on only two occasions.
The largest giant squid ever found measured nearly 13 meters long, including its tentacles. However, scientists estimate that the species can grow up to 20 meters long, based on the size of giant squid beaks found in the stomachs of sperm whales (Physeter macrocephalus), which hunt giant squids.
Giant squids possess eight tentacles with spines that help grab and pull prey toward their beaks. The squid’s beak is made of hard chitin, a material similar to the exoskeleton of an insect, with sharp edges perfect for cutting prey into bite-sized pieces.
Although giant squids are extremely large, scientists have yet to determine whether they are the largest mollusks. The giant squid (Mesonychoteuthis hamiltoni) resides in the Southern Ocean at depths of at least 1000 meters.
One of the lesser-known giant squids, kept at the Te Papa Tongarewa museum in New Zealand, weighs up to 450 kg, while the previous giant squid was thought to weigh about 275 kg.
According to Smithsonian, giant squids can reach a length of 14 meters or more due to having two long tentacles.
Giant squids are most commonly recorded in the North Atlantic and North Pacific Oceans, near South Africa and New Zealand.
Some scientists argue that giant squids should be divided into several different species, including separate species for populations in the North Atlantic, North Pacific, and Southern Oceans. However, a 2013 study published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B analyzed 43 collected giant squid specimens and found genetic diversity, suggesting that the giant squid is a single species that alternates through migration.
This species is solitary, and scientists are not sure how males find females to breed. Researchers hypothesized that males and females may only occasionally encounter each other, with the female collecting and storing sperm from multiple males. However, a female caught off the coast of Japan in 2020 had only sperm from a single male, suggesting that giant squids can indeed be monogamous.
Scientists are also not certain how squid mating occurs. They hypothesized that the male placed his sperm on the female squid’s tentacles, suspecting the female could release the eggs and fertilize them in the water.
According to Smithsoniann, the female will release millions of fertilized eggs that stick together into an egg mass.
