The few
survivors insisted that one of them was gobbled up by a giant squid.
Giant squids (Architeuthis dux) - up to 20 meters long and one ton
(1000 kilograms) heavy - are not fabulous sea monsters. They exist.
There have been more than 250 sightings of these behemoths, mostly
stranded or dead. In 1874, Rev. Moses Harvey of Newfoundland displayed
a dead giant squid caught by fishermen in his tub. The specimen was
described in a scientific monograph written by Professor
Addison Verrill of Yale University six years later.
Undigested pieces of giant squids have been found in the stomachs of
sperm whales. Whale skins are often scarred by the tentacled suckers
of their foes. The marks are between 2 and 5 centimeters in diameter.
The eyes of this beast - which stalks the darkness of the
deepest seas, up to 1000 meters below the surface - are as big as
human heads. The squid grows fast and attains full size in 3-4 years.
Giant squids eat deep sea fishes - as well as smaller squids. They use
their very long feeding tentacles, equipped with "clubs" (suckers, or
suction cups) to capture their prey. The hapless victim is then held
by eight smaller arms ("arm crown").
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