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All You Need to Know About the Giant Squid

What's twoscore-feet long and has the largest centre in the animal kingdom?

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©Reuters

On a recent trip to the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History, I was faced with a display of a behemothic squid that was, well, GIANT. Every bit a school field trip chaperone, I was quickly peppered with all sorts of questions about the giant squid from the cognition-seeking students. What I learned and shared with the students was fascinating. Here is everything that Yous need to know about the giant squid.

How behemothic is the behemothic squid, actually?

Giant squids tin be more than forty feet long, if y'all measure all the way out to the tip of their ii long feeding tentacles. As the students noted, the main torso of the giant squid isn't then big (and not at all impressive). It'south the long, long tentacles and arms that make them so giant. If you can imagine viii artillery and ii giant tentacles all floating in the ocean in all directions—you can become the sense of how immense they are. The largest giant squid always recorded by scientists was almost 43 anxiety (13 meters) long and may have weighed well-nigh a ton.

Where does the giant squid live?

Behemothic squid alive deep underwater—in the Twilight Zone—at depths between 1,000 feet and about 2,000 feet. Since the behemothic squid live downwards deep in the ocean, there isn't very much that we know about them. We have seen piffling of the giant squid in the wild. Almost of what nosotros know almost them comes from the bodies of dead squid that have washed aground or been pulled up in fishermen'south nets.

Popular Science : Wikimedia Commons- An engraving of a giant squid found in Newfoundland, 1877Wikimedia Commons
©Popular Science / Wikimedia Eatables

Do they squirt ink?

The giant squid is a mollusk and a member of the cephalopod class, which includes the octopus and other squids. As such, nearly all cephalopods such as squid can squirt ink as an escape measure when threatened.

This ability is possible through the use of the squid's ink sacs and water propulsion.

There is piddling to no video footage or enquiry of giant squid, considering they are so elusive and live in the deep, deep depths of the sea. We tin can simply assume they squirt ink because they are cephalopods and possess the ability to practice so.

Are they dangerous?

Some believe that the terrible Kraken of ancient myth may have been partly based on the giant squid. Merely, unless you lot discover yourself swimming around the Twilight Zone—you should fear not—yous are non in danger. Considering recreational scuba diving limits only go to 130 feet, and giant squid alive at depths 10x deeper, odds are y'all'll never encounter i.

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©Reuters

What's going on with their optics? They seem behemothic, too.

Behemothic squid have the largest center in the animate being kingdom. Once again, this is because the behemothic squid live in the Twilight Zone. Because it is so dark, they need large eyes to pick up whatever tiny amount of low-cal that passes through to that depth. This helps with hunting prey and avoiding predators.

The size of their eyes can be up to ten inches in bore. Some people describe it as the size of a dinner plate. To put this into comparison for yous, the largest animal on Earth—the blue whale—has an eye diameter of half dozen inches.

How can we help the behemothic squid?

There is so notwithstanding much we tin acquire about the behemothic squid—which is one of the many reasons that nosotros should proceed working together to protect their habitat.

Who knows what we will discover about them side by side?

We won't find out if we don't protect the body of water and the animals that call it home.

Bring together Body of water Salvation today!

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