~ Sources of Information ~

Giant squid as flotsam

Whether floating at sea or washed ashore, reports of dying or dead giant squid appear in documented records reaching back to the 16th century. No doubt these fabulous creatures have been scattered around the world's beaches for as long as giant squid have existed. In 1857, Jappetus Steenstrup, an eminent Danish biologist, pieced together from stories, ancient drawings, and one beak the fact that these kraken were nothing more or less than squid, giant squid. Steenstrup gave these giant squid the scientific name, Architeuthis, Greek for ruling squid. Professor Addison E. Verrill of Yale University was able to confirm Steenstrup's assignment by examining two kraken that ended up as flotsam along the Newfoundland coast in 1873.

More than 100 Architeuthis individuals have since been found on beaches and coastlines in both hemispheres of the world ocean. This number of specimens, though substantial, has not contributed nearly as much detailed information as scientists would like. Foremost is the fact that many of those specimens were destroyed and never preserved. Once dead, giant squid decompose rapidly. They are frequently fed upon by other marine organisms. Their eyes, skin and internal organs usually are the first to disappear. Tentacles and arms are commonly missing parts. Stomachs are nearly always empty, and when remnants of food are found they are so fragmented that the identities of the prey species are difficult to detect.

Giant squid and sperm whales

Sperm whales stranded on beaches and caught by whaling ships bear circular scars inflicted by the powerful suckers of giant squid. The size of the scars has led some to estimate the size of squid eaten by the whales. Scars as large as 20 cm were reported and some believed it would take a 75 meter long squid to bear such a sucker! Scientists later noticed no fresh scars were in excess of about 5 cm, and certainly no giant squid examined have suckers larger than 5.2 cm.

Perhaps people's imaginations increased the size of the sucker scars. Or it may be that the scars expand as sperm whales grow. Whales also get infected with a species of ringworm, a fungus that grows in a circular pattern, so it is possible for ringworm scars to have been mistaken for old sucker scars.

The current scientific conclusion is that adult giant squid suckers are between 2-5 cm in diameter, whether on the arms or tentacles. There are no credible reports of larger suckers.

The general areas where giant squid occur and a very rough idea of their abundance can be estimated from the stomach contents of sperm whales. Soft tissues of squid are quickly digested by enzymes in the large mammals' stomachs. But the squid's hard beaks, which are made from a carbohydrate known as chitin, prove indigestible. Sperm whales have a way of ridding themselves of the thousands of pointy squid beaks that accumulate in their digestive tracts. They coat the beaks with a slick, waxy substance known as ambergris, then pass the mass of beaks and ambergris through the digestive tract.

Squid captured (dead) in fishing nets

As commercial fishing operations drop nets to ever greater depths, they more frequently bring up giant squid. These specimens generally are in better shape since the entrapped squid are likely to be healthy specimens, freshly caught, though dead or in the throes of death from trauma. While many of these giants are not saved for examination by scientists, some of those that are have enough remains in their stomachs that certain species of fish or other squid can be identified. During the 1990s, the greatest numbers of trawled squid have come from the deep waters of New Zealand.