How a sperm whale eats a giant squid. Battle of the sea giants (battle of squid and sperm whale)

The biggest squid in the world May 1st, 2017

There is a so-called architeutis - a genus of huge oceanic squid, whose length reaches 18 meters in length. The largest specimen was found in 1887 on the coast of New Zealand - its length was 17.4 meters. Unfortunately, nothing is said about weight.

Giant squid can be found in subtropical and temperate zones Indian, Pacific and Atlantic oceans. They live in the water column, and they can be found both a few meters from the surface and at a depth of one kilometer.

No one is able to attack this animal, except for one, namely, the sperm whale. At one time it was believed that a terrible battle was being played out between these two, the outcome of which remains unknown until the last. But, as recent studies have shown, architeutis loses in 99% of cases, since the power is always on the side of the sperm whale.

If we talk about squid caught in our time, then we can talk about a specimen that was caught by fishermen in the Antarctic region in 2007 (see the first photo). Scientists wanted to examine it, but could not - at that time there was no suitable equipment, so they decided to freeze the giant until better times. As for the dimensions, they are as follows: body length - 9 meters, and weight - 495 kilograms. This is the so-called colossal squid or mesonychoteuthys.

And this is possible, a photo of the largest squid in the world:

Even ancient sailors told terrible stories in sailor taverns about the attack of monsters that emerged from the abyss and drowned entire ships, entangling them with their tentacles. They were called krakens. They have become legends. Their existence was treated rather skeptically. But even Aristotle described a meeting with the "big teutys" from which travelers who plied the waters suffered. mediterranean sea. Where does reality end and truth begin?

Homer was the first to describe the kraken in his legends. Scylla, about which Odysseus met in his wanderings, is nothing but giant kraken. Gorgon Medusa borrowed tentacles from the monster, which eventually transformed into snakes. And, of course, the Hydra, defeated by Hercules, is a distant "relative" of this mysterious creature. On the frescoes of Greek temples, you can find images of creatures that wrap their tentacles around entire ships.

Soon the myth took shape. People met a mythical monster. This happened in the west of Ireland, when in 1673 a storm threw a creature the size of a horse, with eyes like dishes and many shoots, onto the seashore. It had a huge beak, like an eagle's. Kraken remains for a long time were an exhibit that was shown to everyone for big money in Dublin.

Carl Linnaeus, in his famous classification, assigned them to the order of mollusks, calling them Sepia microcosmos. Subsequently, zoologists systematized all known information and were able to give a description of this species. In 1802, Denis de Montfort published the book "General and Private natural history shellfish", which subsequently inspired many adventurers to capture the mysterious deep animal.

The year was 1861, and the steamer Dleckton was making a routine voyage across the Atlantic. Suddenly, a giant squid appeared on the horizon. The captain decided to harpoon him. And they were even able to drive a few sharp spikes into solid kraken. But three hours of struggle were in vain. The mollusk went to the bottom, almost dragging the ship with it. At the ends of the harpoons there were pieces of meat, with a total weight of 20 kilograms. The ship's artist managed to sketch the struggle between man and animal, and this drawing is still kept in the French Academy of Sciences.

The second attempt to take the kraken alive was made ten years later, when he landed in fishing nets near Newfoundland. People fought for ten hours with a stubborn and freedom-loving animal. They were able to pull him ashore. The ten-meter carcass was examined by the famous naturalist Harvey, who preserved the kraken in salt water and the exhibit delighted visitors to the London History Museum for many years.

Ten years later, on the other side of the earth, in New Zealand, the fishermen were able to catch a twenty-meter mollusk, weighing 200 kilograms. The most recent find was a kraken found in the Falkland Islands. It was "only" 8 meters long and is still kept at the Darwin Center in the UK capital.

What is he like? This animal has a cylindrical head, several meters in length. Its body changes color from dark green to crimson red (depending on the mood of the animal). Most big eyes in the animal world of krakens. They can be up to 25 centimeters in diameter. In the center of the "head" is the beak. This is a chitinous formation with which the animal grinds fish and other food. With it, he is able to bite a steel cable 8 centimeters thick. A curious structure has a kraken tongue. It is covered with small denticles that have different shape, allow you to grind food and push it into the esophagus.

Not always the meeting with the kraken ends with the victory of people. Like this incredible story surfs the internet: in March 2011, a squid attacked fishermen in the Sea of Cortez. Before the eyes of people resting at the Loreto resort, a huge octopus drowned a 12-meter ship. The fishing boat was sailing parallel to the coastline, when suddenly several dozen thick, how many tentacles emerged from the water towards it. They wrapped themselves around the sailors and threw them overboard. Then the monster began to rock the ship until it capsized.

According to an eyewitness: “I saw four or five bodies that the surf threw ashore. Their bodies were almost completely covered with blue spots - from suckers sea monsters. One was still alive. But he didn't look much like a man. The squid literally chewed it up!”

This is Photoshop.

According to zoologists, it was a carnivorous Humboldt squid that lives in these waters. And he was not alone. The flock attacked the ship deliberately, acted in a coordinated manner and consisted mainly of females. The fish in these waters are getting smaller and the krakens have to look for food. The fact that they got to people is an alarming sign.

Below, in the cold and dark depths of the Pacific Ocean, lives a very intelligent and cautious creature. This truly unearthly creature is legendary all over the world. But this monster is real.

This is a giant squid or Humboldt squid. It received its name in honor of the Humboldt current, where it was first discovered. It's a cold current washing the shores South America, but this creature's habitat is much larger. It extends from Chile north to Central California through Pacific Ocean. Giant squids patrol the depths of the ocean most its life at a depth of up to 700 meters. Therefore, very little is known about their behavior.

They can reach the height of an adult. Their size can exceed 2 meters. Without any warning, they emerge from the darkness in groups and feed on fish on the surface. Like their relative the octopus, giant squids can change their color by inscribing and closing pigment-filled sacs in their skin called chromatophores. By quickly closing these chromatophores, they become white. Perhaps this is necessary to divert the attention of other predators, or maybe this is a form of communication. And if something alarmed them or they behave aggressively, then their color turns red.

Fishermen who cast their lines and try to catch these giants off the coast of Central America call them the red devil. The same fishermen talk about how squid pulled people overboard and ate them. The squid's behavior does nothing to lessen these fears. Lightning-fast tentacles armed with spiky suckers hook the victim's flesh and drag him to the waiting mouth. There, the sharp beak breaks and shreds food. Red Devil: Giant squids seem to eat anything they can catch, even their own kind. As a desperate defense measure, the weaker squid shoots an ink cloud from a pouch near its head. This dark pigment is designed to hide and confuse enemies.

Few had the ability or the courage to approach a giant squid in the water. But one wildlife filmmaker descended into the dark to film this unique piece of footage. Squid quickly surrounds him, at first he shows curiosity, and then aggression. The tentacles grabbed his mask and regulator, and this is fraught with cessation of air. He will be able to restrain the squid and return to the surface if he also shows aggression and behaves like a predator. This short meeting gave some idea of mind, strength and

But the real giants are the krakens that live in the Bermuda region. They can reach a length of up to 20 meters, and monsters 50 meters long hide at the very bottom. Their target is sperm whales and whales.

Here is how the Englishman Woollen described one such fight: “At first it looked like an eruption of an underwater volcano. Looking through the binoculars, I was convinced that neither the volcano nor the earthquake had anything to do with what was happening in the ocean. But the forces at work there were so formidable that I may be excused for my first guess: a very large sperm whale deadly fight with a giant squid almost as big as itself. It seemed that the endless tentacles of the mollusk entangled the entire body of the enemy with a continuous net. Even next to the ominously black head of a sperm whale, the head of a squid seemed such a terrible object that one would not always dream of even in nightmare. Huge and bulging eyes against the deathly pale background of the squid's body made it look like a monstrous ghost.

And a few more sea giants for your attention: for example, and here, well, here's after you

Architeutis ... Have you heard about such a name, which determines marine life, namely the giant squid? it sea creature frightens people not the first century. This is about deep sea squid, which belongs to the Architeuthidae family. Thousands of researchers are hunting for his photo.

It is not surprising that scientists from all over the world put a lot of effort into studying such amazing individuals. The first photographs of architeuthis were taken in 2004. Then the researchers photographed a live squid in its familiar environment. The photo shows squids of incredible size. The first video was filmed two years later, in 2006. The survey was conducted by the same researchers who did the photography. The scientists watched the whales and took photos and videos of the real architeutis.

The squid is incredible big size found in many oceans that are on our planet. Most often, architeutis is found near the British Isles, Newfoundland, Norway, South Africa. There are huge squids, the largest and close Japanese islands, Australia, New Zealand. Much less often, architeutis is found in the polar zones and tropical latitudes.

These squids love depths of 300 meters or more. They are also found at a depth of 1000 meters. Again, all conclusions are made on the basis of a study of the behavior of sperm whales.

Giant squid: what does it eat

The largest squid goes hunting only alone. It feeds on mollusks and fish that live at great depths. In catching prey, the squid uses its tentacle. Having captured the victim with suckers, he brings it to his beak and eats, eats, after crushing it into pieces with his tongue with teeth. So the esophagus is replenished with new food.

AT different parts In the light of the day, fishermen often pulled architeutis in their fishing nets, but since such squids swam alone, it was not possible to catch more than one individual at a time, which once again confirms the fact that squids prefer an isolated life.

Are you wondering who can hunt architeutis - the largest, giant squids? Scientists note that at present there is the only animal capable of encroaching on the life of architeutis. It's about the sperm whale. In some cases, squid can be hunted by sharks, pilot whales that live at depth. Many also feed on young individuals of the giant squid. big fish, but when the architeutis reaches an impressive size, everyone begins to fear him.

Scientists can only observe natural enemies giant squid - sperm whales, in order to study architeutis properly.

It's no secret that giant squids are shocking for their size. In general, a squid was recorded, the length of which was 16.5 meters. It can be emphasized that the giant squid is the largest invertebrate.

Remarkably, the mantle of females is an order of magnitude larger than that of males. On average, the length of the mantle is 2.5 meters. Impressive options. Do you agree? A photo with squid cannot but shock.

Giant squid: features of its anatomy

Studying giant squid is a fascinating and dangerous activity. You need to clearly understand that the giant squid, like any other, has a mantle, 8 tentacles, which are called "hands" and 2 trapping tentacles. Most of the length of the architeuthis is tentacles. Does anyone have tentacles bigger size? Absolutely not. Among the cephalopods that are known to mankind, the squid is the owner of the largest tentacles.

In size, such a squid can exceed the sperm whale. As you know, it is the sperm whale that is the main enemy of architeutis. But if the sperm whale has a mass, then the squid is light in weight due to its tentacles. Scientists have discovered individuals that weighed about several hundred kilograms. Are architeuthis even heavier? This question remains open, since not all of the depths of the ocean have been explored. And not everywhere, it is not always possible to take photos.

But back to physiological characteristics squid, which is the largest inhabitant of the seas, oceans among molluscs. As everyone knows, squid tentacles have many hemisphere-shaped suction cups. These suckers can be of different diameters: from 2 to 6 centimeters. Why do we need such suckers on tentacles? Firstly, with their help, squids capture prey. Secondly, they use them to hold the victim. Often the heads of sperm whales are decorated with round scars, just the same, left after the attack of the largest squid. It is terrible to imagine what will happen to a person if he falls into the arms of tentacles. But there have already been such cases. And it is possible that they will.

The tentacles of architeuthis are divided into 3 sections, which are called "brushes", "wrist", "fingers". Especially densely suckers are located on the 2nd site, there are more than six rows of them. Toward the end of the tentacles are "brushes". They have a greater width than the "wrists". It has much fewer rows of suckers, only two, but they are much larger.

In the very center of the circle along which the tentacles of the mollusk are located, there is a beak that resembles the beak of a bird (parrot).

The squid has fins. Their sizes are quite small, but this is enough for movement. The fins are located behind the mantle. Interestingly, architeuthis often uses a jet mode of movement (it is characteristic of all cephalopods). Everything happens like this: such a squid sucks water into the mantle and releases it through a siphon. Can architeuthis move very fast? Of course, if there is a need for it.

The most complex part of the body of a giant squid is the brain. It is his scientists who study especially closely. Concerning nervous system architeuthis, it should be noted that it is considered highly organized.

A notable feature of architeuthis is that it has the largest eyes: about 27 centimeters, and about 9 centimeters is the pupil. There is no other living organism that could boast such huge eyes. Thanks to them, architeuthis easily captures the slightest bioluminescent glow of underwater organisms. Can architeuthis distinguish colors? It remains a mystery. But the fact that the sea creature captures the differences in gray shades is a fact. And this ability is especially important at depth, in low light conditions.

Giant squids have what is called zero buoyancy. The bodies of squids contain ammonium chloride. For the same reason, the meat of such a squid is not valuable to people. Are you wondering how fish float in the water? They have swim bladder with gas, there is no ammonium chloride in the body, therefore people are happy to eat many fish.

Like all cephalopods, architeuthis has statocysts - special organs that allow a huge squid to successfully navigate in the water. Interesting fact: statoliths are located in statocysts. From these organs, you can determine how old the squid is. They are often compared to rings on a tree trunk. These rings have already "told" a lot to scientists about architeutis. Many of the facts that are reflected in scientific research, were obtained from the abdominal cavity of sperm whales, which swallowed the largest squid. In the stomach, the beaks of architeutis are not digested; with their help, you can get a lot of information. By the way, the beaks of small squids are not digested either, so they must be removed before cooking.

It is not surprising that architeuthis is of such great interest. Scientists began to study the giant "monster" in 1856. It is a pity that there are no photos from that time.

Large squid (architeuthis): its impressive size

As noted earlier, giant squids are the largest mollusks among all living invertebrates that live in the seas and oceans in our time. Only the nemertine is longer. But earlier, a few hundred years ago, there were cephalopods, the size of which was an order of magnitude larger, but they have already died out.

People in fear of the monster often exaggerated the real size of the squid. Today, there are many places where you can find data that individuals whose length reaches 20 meters or more live in the oceans. But, unfortunately, scientists do not have confirmation of this information, just as there are no photographs confirming this fact. Therefore, we are left to live in conjectures, who and what inhabits sea depths. But the photos already available of giant squids attacking sperm whales are really impressive.

To date, more than 130 species of squid have been studied. The results of research, as well as photographs, allow us to conclude that architeutis is the largest squid in existence. According to recent studies, the largest length of the Architeuthis mantle is 22.25 meters. When this squid died, the body relaxed, and its length was 16.5 meters. highest weight architeuthis was 275 and 150 kilograms for females and males, respectively.

Giant squid: breeding features

Very little is known about how the largest squid breeds. There is an assumption that at the age of 3 years architeutis becomes sexually mature. The females are significantly larger than the males. Females lay many eggs ranging in size from 0.5 mm. up to 1.4 mm. (length) and from 0.3 mm. Up to 0.7 mm. (width). In the process of mating, a grasping penis extends from the mantle of a male squid, ejecting spermatophores (they take part in the fertilization of the female). The long penis can reach 90 centimeters. How the sperm gets to the eggs is not yet known.

Serious research was carried out on the coast of New Zealand, where juveniles of architeuthis were studied. Currently, scientists have decided to use a special aquarium to study the giant squid, so they can conduct more extensive and detailed studies.

Very often from scientists, researchers, sailors one could hear that they saw how tentacles crawled out of the mouth of a whale huge size. This is a large squid trying to get out of the stomach of a sperm whale.

Kraken - great and terrible. The biggest squid in the world November 13th, 2013

There is the so-called architeutis - a genus of huge oceanic squid, whose length reaches 18 meters in length. The greatest length of the mantle is 2 m, and the tentacles - up to 5 m. The largest specimen was found in 1887 on the coast of New Zealand - its length was 17.4 meters. Unfortunately, nothing is said about weight.

Giant squid can be found in the subtropical and temperate zones of the Indian, Pacific and Atlantic oceans. They live in the water column, and they can be found both a few meters from the surface and at a depth of one kilometer.

And this is possible, a photo of the largest squid in the world:

Even ancient sailors told terrible stories in sailor taverns about the attack of monsters that emerged from the abyss and drowned entire ships, entangling them with their tentacles. They were called krakens. They have become legends. Their existence was treated rather skeptically. But even Aristotle described a meeting with the "great teutys" from which travelers who plied the waters of the Mediterranean suffered. Where does reality end and truth begin?

Homer was the first to describe the kraken in his legends. Scylla, about which Odysseus met in his wanderings, is nothing more than a giant kraken. Gorgon Medusa borrowed tentacles from the monster, which eventually transformed into snakes. And, of course, the Hydra, defeated by Hercules, is a distant "relative" of this mysterious creature. On the frescoes of Greek temples, you can find images of creatures that wrap their tentacles around entire ships.

Soon the myth took shape. People met a mythical monster. This happened in the west of Ireland, when in 1673 a storm threw a creature the size of a horse, with eyes like dishes and many shoots, onto the seashore. It had a huge beak, like an eagle's. The remains of the kraken have long been an exhibit that was shown to everyone for a lot of money in Dublin.

Carl Linnaeus, in his famous classification, assigned them to the order of mollusks, calling them Sepia microcosmos. Subsequently, zoologists systematized all known information and were able to give a description of this species. In 1802, Denis de Montfort published the book "The General and Private Natural History of Mollusks", which later inspired many adventurers to capture the mysterious deep animal.

The year was 1861, and the steamer Dleckton was making a routine voyage across the Atlantic. Suddenly, a giant squid appeared on the horizon. The captain decided to harpoon him. And they were even able to drive a few sharp spikes into the solid body of the kraken. But three hours of struggle were in vain. The mollusk went to the bottom, almost dragging the ship with it. At the ends of the harpoons there were pieces of meat, with a total weight of 20 kilograms. The ship's artist managed to sketch the struggle between man and animal, and this drawing is still kept in the French Academy of Sciences.

What is he like? This animal has a cylindrical head, several meters in length. Its body changes color from dark green to crimson red (depending on the mood of the animal). Krakens have the largest eyes in the animal world. They can be up to 25 centimeters in diameter. In the center of the "head" is the beak. This is a chitinous formation with which the animal grinds fish and other food. With it, he is able to bite a steel cable 8 centimeters thick. A curious structure has a kraken tongue. It is covered with small teeth, which have different shapes, allow you to grind food and push it into the esophagus.

Not always the meeting with the kraken ends with the victory of people. Here is such an incredible story roaming the Internet: in March 2011, in the Sea of Cortez, a squid attacked fishermen. Before the eyes of people resting at the Loreto resort, a huge octopus drowned a 12-meter ship. The fishing boat was sailing parallel to the coastline, when suddenly several dozen thick, how many tentacles emerged from the water towards it. They wrapped themselves around the sailors and threw them overboard. Then the monster began to rock the ship until it capsized.

According to an eyewitness: “I saw four or five bodies that the surf threw ashore. Their bodies were almost completely covered with blue spots - from the suction cups of sea monsters. One was still alive. But he didn't look much like a man. The squid literally chewed it up!”

This is Photoshop. The original photo is in the comments.

Below, in the cold and dark depths of the Pacific Ocean, lives a very intelligent and cautious creature. This truly unearthly creature is legendary all over the world. But this monster is real.

This is a giant squid or Humboldt squid. It received its name in honor of the Humboldt current, where it was first discovered. This is a cold current that washes the shores of South America, but the habitat of this creature is much larger. It extends from Chile north to Central California across the Pacific Ocean. Giant squid patrol the depths of the ocean, spending most of their lives at depths of up to 700 meters. Therefore, very little is known about their behavior.

Here is how the Englishman Woollen described one such fight: “At first it looked like an eruption of an underwater volcano. Looking through the binoculars, I was convinced that neither the volcano nor the earthquake had anything to do with what was happening in the ocean. But the forces at work there were so formidable that I may be excused for my first guess: a very large sperm whale engaged in mortal combat with a giant squid almost as big as itself. It seemed that the endless tentacles of the mollusk entangled the entire body of the enemy with a continuous net. Even next to the sinister black head of a sperm whale, the head of a squid seemed such a terrible object that one does not always dream of even in a nightmare. Huge and bulging eyes against the deathly pale background of the squid's body made it look like a monstrous ghost.

The original article is on the website InfoGlaz.rf Link to the article from which this copy is made -

Like all toothed whales, sperm whales are predators. The basis of the diet of these animals is cephalopods (squid, octopus) and fish. An adult sperm whale needs about 1 ton of cephalopods per day (about 3% of body weight).

Sperm whale menu

The main food of the sperm whale consists of bathypelagic species. cephalopods that live in the water column below the surface layer. Today, about 40 species of mollusks are known, which make up more than 90% of the total mass of food of sperm whales. In search of food, whales dive deep. Sea giants catch prey at a depth of at least 500 m, where they have practically no food competitors. The hunting session lasts about 1 hour, but the technology of catching mollusks is not exactly known. Scientists suggest that ultrasonic echolocation (sonar) is used to search for food. High-frequency sounds disorient mollusks in space, and they become easy prey for whales. Sperm whales do not consume cuttlefish that live close to the surface of the water.

Interesting fact

Sperm whales eat giant squid more than 10 m long. Protecting themselves, monstrous mollusks leave traces of their suckers on the whales' heads. Depressed circles sometimes reach a diameter of 20 cm.

Sperm whales prefer to feed near the edge of the continental shelf. In these places, deep ocean currents bring to the surface great amount different living creatures - octopuses, fish, crustaceans.

Fish ranks second in the diet of whales and makes up only 5% of the total mass of food eaten by sperm whales. More than 50 species of fish have been found in the stomachs of these mammals. It is known that whales prefer to eat perches, rays, greenlings, salmon gobies. Small sharks, saury, pollock are also included in the diet of sperm whales.

At great depths, the largest cetaceans also pick up acid-resistant rocks. They are not destroyed by gastric juice and serve as millstones for the mechanical grinding of food eaten.

Thanks to this menu, the odorous substance ambergris is formed in the intestines of sperm whales - the most valuable product in perfumery.

Source:

And this is possible, a photo of the largest squid in the world:

Even ancient sailors told terrible stories in sailor taverns about the attack of monsters that emerged from the abyss and drowned entire ships, entangling them with their tentacles. They were called krakens. They have become legends. Their existence was treated rather skeptically. But even Aristotle described a meeting with the "great teutys" from which travelers who plied the waters of the Mediterranean suffered. Where does reality end and truth begin?

Soon the myth took shape. People met a mythical monster. This happened in the west of Ireland, when in 1673 a storm threw a creature the size of a horse, with eyes like dishes and many shoots, onto the seashore. It had a huge beak, like an eagle's. The remains of the kraken have long been an exhibit that was shown to everyone for a lot of money in Dublin.

Carl Linnaeus, in his famous classification, assigned them to the order of mollusks, calling them Sepia microcosmos. Subsequently, zoologists systematized all known information and were able to give a description of this species. In 1802, Denis de Montfort published the book "The General and Private Natural History of Mollusks", which later inspired many adventurers to capture the mysterious deep animal.

Source:

The year was 1861, and the steamer Dleckton was making a routine voyage across the Atlantic. Suddenly, a giant squid appeared on the horizon. The captain decided to harpoon him. And they were even able to drive a few sharp spikes into the solid body of the kraken. But three hours of struggle were in vain. The mollusk went to the bottom, almost dragging the ship with it. At the ends of the harpoons there were pieces of meat, with a total weight of 20 kilograms. The ship's artist managed to sketch the struggle between man and animal, and this drawing is still kept in the French Academy of Sciences.

Source:

Reference:

Below, in the cold and dark depths of the Pacific Ocean, lives a very intelligent and cautious creature. This truly unearthly creature is legendary all over the world. But this monster is real.