Deep Sea News : A Post Where Craig Pontificates About the Colossal Squid

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Craig is temporarily a post-doctoral fellow at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute who is looking for a permanent position. He spends most of his time balancing his overwhelming geekdom with normalcy so he can function in the real world. Luckily his wife likes his geekiness.

Peter Etnoyer is a Graduate Research Associate at the Harte Research Institute for Gulf of Mexico Studies, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi. He studies deep corals and ocean fronts, and he loves to be on the water.

Kevin Zelnio is a Graduate Student Researcher at Penn State studying the ecology of hydrothermal vent and methane seep communities. He raises awareness of the plight of the spineless through folk music.

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A Post Where Craig Pontificates About the Colossal Squid

Category: Cephalopods!
Posted on: May 5, 2008 6:09 AM, by CR McClain

Take a few moments to let the size of the Colossal Squid really sink in

In my absence for a body size evolution workshop and during Peter's coral week spectacular the media took the opportunity to spread disinformation about my favorite phyla-Mollusca. To bring you up to speed, a crack team of teuthologists* dissected both Giant and Colossal Squids at the Te Papa Museum in New Zealand last week. This is where the confusion arises as a Giant Squid AND 2 Colossal Squid were dissected. One of these was the 495kg giant caught over a year ago by fisherman in the Antarctic (oh yeah...she's a girl!). Seeing the media consistently confuse the two species greatly saddens me. But hey if the media always got it right there would be little need for DSN.

So for clarity the Giant Squid and the Colossal Squid are completely different. Below I provide a list that you can print out and keep in your wallet or purse along with your Seafood Watch card.

The two are not even that related other than that both are squid. The Giant Squid is from the genus Architeuthis and the Colossal Squid from Mesonychoteuthis
The Giant Squid is longer but the Colossal Squid is bigger.

The Colossal Squid has hooks. It weighs half ton and has hooks on its tentacles. Think of that the next time you take a dip.

The beak of the 495kg Colossal Squid individual was 42.5 mm. Beaks up to 49 mm have been found in the stomachs of sperm whales. This greatly exceeds those of Architeuthis in size and robustness.

The eye of the Colossal Squid is bigger than the Giant Squid. In fact the eye is the largest eye of any animal. Kevin belongs to a sect that believes is you stare into the giant eye you can see God.
The Colossal Squid can cloak itself similar to a Klingon Bird of Prey
Did I mention hooks?

So overall the Colossal Squid is the largest invertebrate on earth with special powers that stem from its large eyes, possesses stealth technology, and massive tentacles lined with razor-sharp hooks. The Giant Squid is cute cuddly one.

*One of these teuthologists (I love that title) is DSN's field correspondent (although no one has told him yet) and generally the coolest scientist we all know, Steve O'Shea.

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