Humboldt Squid

Kingdom:Animalia

Phylum:Mollusca

Class:Cephalopoda

Order:Oegopsida

Family:Ommastrephidae

Genus:Dosidicus

Species:D. gigas

Description and Behavior

The Humboldt Squid, also known as the “Jumbo Squid”, “The Real Life Kraken”, or “Red Devil” is a massive carnivorous predator and the most abundant nektonic squid on earth. Research suggest that shoals (groups) of these animals demonstrate a tendency to meet unfamiliar objects aggressively and have been known to act aggressively toward humans and deep sea-cameras.This behavior was first made famous in a television series titled“The First, Man Eating Super Squid: A Monster Invasion”, which premiered on the National Geographic Wild channel and explored various attacks by this species in Mexico.Like other members among their family, these cephalopods also possess bioluminescent photophores that allow them to quickly change body coloration, a process known as metachrosis. This process and their behavior to rapidly flash red and white while hunting, is what earned them their name diablo rojo, or “Red Devil”.

Feeding Habits and Strategy

Their prey consists of crustaceans, other cephalopods, small fish and copepods and prey size and prey number does not very with squid size. While Humboldt Squids reside in shoals (groups) of 900-1,200 individuals, this species does not engage in cooperative hunting but hunts alone and is typically found to feed at night. The Humboldt Squid is known to use two strategies when capturing their prey.

Strategy 1: The Humboldt Squid have tentacles that posses one hundred to two hundred suckers on them, each lined with razor sharp teeth. They are known to approach prey with eight of their ten appendages open and often extend two long tentacles once within striking distance. These two tentacles grab the prey and bring it toward their radula and beak to be sliced open and eaten.

Strategy 2: The Humboldt Squid is a carnivorous marine invertebrate and can swim up to forty-two kilometers per hour using its siphon and two triangular fins. The squid will sometimes pull their prey to great depths until it passes out and is capable of being quickly devoured without struggle. This strategy is commonly used when there is an under-abundance of food, to minimize energy usage.

Habitat and Distribution

The Humboldt Squid primarily lives in the waters of the Humboldt Current in the Eastern Pacific Ocean off the coast of South Africa. Recent research also suggests that these massive creatures are beginning to migrate farther North, reaching as far as Alaska, due to possible factor such as the warming of the ocean and changes is trophic level predators. The acidification of the ocean has also changed the habit and distribution of these creatures. While they typically reside at depths of two hundred to seven hundred meters, many are transitioning to shallower waters where they can take in water and maximize their oxygen uptake.

Reproduction And Development

The Humboldt Squid is monocyclic, meaning that it will only have one reproductive cycle during it’s lifetime. The squid’s mate in a head to head position typically between the months of October through January through a process known as internal fertilization. The female typically lays a floating clutch, protected by a layer of jelly, of one million to twenty million eggs. This is the most of any known cephalopod or relative. The embryo typically develops for six to nine days and then hatches in a paralarval stage called a rhynchoteuthion. At this stage the squid has two tentacles fused into a proboscis and resides in the upper planktonic layer. The Humboldt Squid can grow at an extraordinarily fast rate and can reach it’s full size, typically 2.5 meters long and one hundred pounds, by forty-five to fifty-five days old. This rapid rate of growth is vital as the squid’s longevity is about one year, on average.

Adaptions

Beak: The Humboldt Squid’s beak is made up of solidified calcium carbonate and has evolved to tear apart and swallow flesh allowing it be a fearsome marine predator.