Lives of the Other Mollusks 47 



crippled individuals and used them for bait. A number of these giants have 

 been brought into museums, and others, stranded on beaches after storms, 

 have been measured and recorded by reliable observers. Architeuthis of the 

 North Atlantic waters is know^n to reach a total length of 55 feet. The 

 longest arms of this specimen are 3 5 feet, while the length of the body from 

 tip of tail to the base of the arms is 20 feet. The greatest circumference 

 of the body is 1 2 feet. Sperm whales which feed upon smaller squid have 

 often been locked in battle with these giants. The skin of these whales is 

 sometimes heavily marked with circular scars caused by the suckers of the 

 squid. 



The octopus does not reach a very large size. The largest known species 

 occurs on the west coast of North America where, in Alaska, Octopus 

 punctatus attains a length of 16 feet or a radial spread of nearly 28 feet. 

 However, the arms are very small in diameter, and a specimen of such long 

 proportions has a body length of not more than a foot. The octopus oc- 

 casionally found in the Lower Florida Keys is usually less than three feet 

 in radial spread. A dead specimen cast on a beach near Nassau, Bahama 

 Islands, was reported to have an arm length of five feet, and it was estimated 

 that the entire creature weighed about 200 pounds. This, however, is with- 

 out verification. Recent reports of octopus holes 100 feet across seen in 

 the Bahamas from the air were made by untrained observers. There is no 

 satisfactory evidence that any of these species of Octopus has ever inten- 

 tionally attacked man, or that any person has ever been seriously injured 

 by one. The octopus is a rather sluggish and timid creature, seeking shelter in 

 holes and crevices among the rocks, and is usually small. It feeds mainly on bi- 

 valve mollusks but will also eat snails, fish and Crustacea. Its hideouts along the 

 shore can usually be detected by the presence of empty shells. 



Locomotion among the cephalopods varies from a slow, "tentacle-walk- 

 ing" pace, both in and out of water, to the rapid, jet-propulsion darts which 

 are so characteristic of the squid. The so-called aerial "flight" of squid, like 

 that of the flyingfish, is actually a gliding operation and largely depends 

 upon the initial speed attained under water. Squid have frequently landed 

 on the decks of ships a dozen or more feet above the surface of the ocean. 

 When a school of squid is alarmed by an approaching ship or by marauding 

 fish, the fleeing squid dart from the water simultaneously and all in one 

 direction rather than individually fanning out in several directions in the 

 manner of flying fish. 



The squid darts backward, forward, or in any other direction by means 

 of the reaction of the jet of water which is ejected with great force from 

 the siphon, and direction of movement is controlled by the bending of the 

 siphon. Even when it is confined to a limited space, as in a fishpound, it is 

 not an easv matter to capture it with a dip-net, so rapid is its movement. 



