Squid are wild and wonderful. They are believed to be remarkably
intelligent because of their apparently complex communication system. They include
the Vampire Squid, and the elusive and mysterious Giant Squid. I researched the
Giant Squid which is the biggest animals in the sea.
The giant squid lives in most of the world`s oceans and is among the
biggest animals in the sea but it is rarely seen. It hunts smaller sea creatures but
larger animals feed on it. It has inspired fantastic tales but the facts are even more
fascinating than the ficiton. For over 2,000 years the giant squid has inspired fear,
fascination, and fantastis stories. Encounters with this huge invertebrate have always
been rare and distant. And only recently has there been scientific evidence to
dispute the legends.
Centuries ago, people invented explanations for what their astonished
eyes saw. In 1500`s, when several large unfamiliar sea creatures were stranded in
Norway, people decided they were ?gMermen?h. A merman is a giant squid. Until the
1880`s , the giant squid was thought to be a legend. But in 1888, a giant squid 57 feet
long washed ashore on a New Zealand beach. It had tentacles 35 feet long, and its
eyes were each larger than a dinner plate. (It is amazing!) One captured sperm whale
regurgitated two 42 foot long tentacles in an aquarium, meaning the squid they came
from was roughly 66 feet long, and weighed 85,000 pounds. Scientists do not know
exactly where in the sea it lives, they have not been to study it alive. The giant squid
can be up to 18m (59 ft), and their weight can be up to 900kg (1980lb,nearly 1ton).
In addition, They were caught everywhere in the world, especially in the North of
Atlantic. Scientists suspect giant squid live mostly at depth of 200 to 700,
One of the giant squid found stranded on U.S. shores where in Washed
ashore on Plum Island, Massachusetts, in 1980. It was the only third giant squid that
they found stranded in U.S. shores. The total of specimen was 2.7m ( 9 ft) and the
weight was 200 kg (440 lb).The giant squid eat mainly fishes and other squids, based
on scientific analysis of the stomach contents of two giant specimens.
Giant, menacing sea monsters have been written about for centuries.
Sailors have told fantastic stories of being attacked by monsters with enormous
flailing tentacles and huge, black menacing eyes . These stories probably originated
from sightings of the largest marine invertebrate which is the giant squid. The giant
squid have the ability to jet propel themselves through the water at 20 miles per
hour, faster than most sailing ships of the past. As squid can also launch itself out of
the water while moving at high speed , appearing to fly, which would be pretty
unnerving to superstitious sailors on a whaling ship.
In recently, a scientific expedition was launched to search the deepest
oceans of the world for the elusive giant squid. Deep water manned and unmanned
submarines will be used to try to find out more about the huge invertebrates. Perhaps
there are still many things that we don?ft know about the squid, but the mystery of the
sea monsters will soon be solved.
Science Essays
