Giant Hunters 

 of the 

 Open Sea 



FEATURED EXHIBIT IN JUNE 



ALAN SOLEM 

 Curator of Lower Inverrebrates 



IL 



I nfortunately for legend and romance, the only authen- 

 ticated account of a dangerous attack made by a giant 

 squid against a ship involved a rowboat fishing off New- 

 foundland in October, 1873. After a young boy chopped 

 off a 19-foot piece of one of the squid's tentacles, the ani- 

 mal was repulsed and the boat was then rapidly rowed 

 to shore and fame as carrying the first actual portion of 

 Architeuthis to be brought to the attention of scientists. Thus 

 the delightfully horrible pictures of squids attacking sailing 

 ships, such as the one on our cover, take their place, with 

 drawings of dragons and unicorns, on the shelf of discarded 

 zoology; but unquestionably the giant squid remains one 

 of the wonders of the animal world. 



Although dwarfed in size by the 120-foot blue whale — 

 the largest living vertebrate — giant squids are the largest 

 known invertebrate animal, probably reaching a total length 

 of 60 feet. The giant jelly-fish Cyanea of the North Atlantic 

 and Arctic waters does have a six-foot wide float with arms 

 that dangle 100 or more feet, but this colonial animal is 95 

 per cent water and drifts passively with the currents. Small 

 30-foot specimens of the giant squid have been known to 

 weigh over 400 pounds, but no large individuals have ever 

 been placed on a scale. Hence their maximum bulk can 

 be only a matter of speculation. 



Squids are close relatives of octopuses, cuttlefish, and the 

 chambered nautilus, and belong to the same phylum as clams 

 and snails. Clams are specialized filter feeders, straining their 

 food out of the water, while snails crawl about or weakly 

 swim after their food. The cephalopods, to which octopuses, 

 squids, and cuttlefish belong, are specialized for active pur- 

 suit of their prey and have developed acute vision and a form 

 of jet propulsion to aid in their search for food. 1 



Undoubtedly many of the early tales of sea monsters were 



Page 2 JUNE 



based on random sightings of Architeuthis. In 1 555 the Swed- 

 ish Catholic Bishop Olaus Magnus published a highly exag- 

 gerated but clearly recognizable account of giant squids. 

 Numerous subsequent references to "krakens" in Scandina- 

 vian literature were inflated by others until Denys de Mont- 

 fort, a French zoologist, created the "poulpe colossal" that 

 attacked and sank warships ! By pure coincidence, it was a 

 French warship in 1861 that provided one of the first reliable 

 accounts of a "kraken." For three hours the crew of the 

 Alecton attempted to shoot, harpoon, and net a giant squid. 

 They did get a noose around the body, but managed only 

 to pull the tail off with the rest sinking beneath the surface. 



Not until the above-mentioned attack on the rowboat 

 was there tangible proof of the giant squid's existence. Late 

 in that same year, a large specimen was netted by other 

 Newfoundland fishermen. A local naturalist measured its 

 length as 32 feet and photographed it. The next ten years 

 saw perhaps 50 to 60 specimens stranded on the shores of 

 Newfoundland, more than have ever been found subse- 

 quently. 2 Whether they were poisoned by some unusual 

 algal bloom or were the victim of some unknown disease 

 is a problem that will never be answered. 



Occasionally today a specimen is stranded or netted. A 

 small individual, 30 feet in total length, was taken at Ran- 

 heim, Norway, in October, 1954 (see photograph on page 3). 



1 A good popularized account of these interesting animals is given 

 in Kingdom of the Octopus by Frank Lane, published by Jarrolds, 

 London, in 1957. 



* Many of these stranded specimens were studied in detail by A. E. 

 Verrill of Yale University. His studies, published in 1879 and 1881, 

 still provide most of the information recorded about Architeuthis. 



