|
Jan 15 2013 - 10:51am
“Upon returning from the reef after a night dive, I swam toward a bright reflection and came eye-to-eye with this beautiful, curious squid," said Charles Viggers, a Nature's Best photographer.
|
Jan 26 2010 - 11:46am
In 1874, Reverend Moses Harvey of Newfoundland bought a dead giant squid caught by fishermen. More about the giant squid can be found in our Giant Squid featured story.
|
|
Oct 15 2012 - 9:30am
This close-up photo shows the tough, serrated ring around the opening of a giant squid sucker. The ring is made of chitin—the same material that’s in your fingernails. Using suction, the sucker tightly grips the squid’s prey. The ring digs into the skin of the giant squid’s only predator—the sperm...
|
Jul 12 2012 - 11:12am
Many sperm whales stranded on beaches or caught by whalers exhibit telltale circular scars like these. Only one thing could have made them: the strong suckers that line the giant squid’s eight arms and two long feeding tentacles. Older sperm whales have so many scars that they overlap each other....
|
|
Jan 26 2010 - 11:45am
A giant squid engages in a struggle for survival with a sperm whale. Giant squid beaks and other undigested pieces of giant squid have been found in the stomachs of sperm whales. More about the giant squid can be found in our Giant Squid section.
|
Jun 2 2010 - 12:31pm
How do you get two dead Giant Squid the size of a school bus from a fishing boat in Spain to Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C.? Call in the U.S. Navy! In this episode of the One Species at a Time, find out how Operation Calamari unfolded and how the museum managed...
|
|
May 5 2011 - 4:41pm
The blanket octopus can rip a poisonous tentacle from a Portuguese man-o-war and wield it like a sword to ward off enemies as it soars through the ocean trailing its webbed cloak behind it.
|
Jan 26 2010 - 11:45am
Dr. Clyde Roper prepares to dive thousands of feet to a giant squid habitat off the coast of New Zealand in a one-person submersible.
|
|
May 10 2013 - 9:27am
The Laysan albatross (Phoebastria immutabilis) breeds mainly in Hawaii and other Pacific islands where male and female pairs will incubate their egg for nine weeks. The pair participates in an elaborate courtship dance where movements and noises bond them together for the rest of their lives. After...
|
Jan 26 2010 - 11:45am
Squids come in a wide range of sizes, from smaller-than-your-thumb to the enormous giant squid. Giant squid grow up to 16 meters (50 feet). Learn more the life, range, and ecology of the giant squid in the Giant Squid section.
|
|
Oct 11 2012 - 1:34pm
A humboldt squid (Dosidicus gigas) -- also known as the jumbo squid -- releases a cloud of ink at night in Mexico's Sea of Cortez. These large, carnivorous squids can reach more than 5 feet in length and travel in shoals of 1,000 squids.
|
Jan 26 2010 - 11:45am
Squids come in a wide range of sizes but despite differences in size and shape, all work basically the same way inside. More about the giant squid can be found in the Giant Squid section.
|
|
Dec 12 2012 - 10:33am
This beautiful jewel squid (Histioteuthis bonnellii) can be found swimming above the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, at depths of 500-2,000 meters (1,640-6,562 feet). The “jewels” covering the body are bioluminescent photophores. But these squids can't bargain for their lives with those jewels: they have been...
|
Jan 26 2010 - 11:45am
Like it or not, giant squids are related to snails, clams, and even slugs. They are all mollusks and have soft, fleshy bodies. More can be found in the Giant Squid section.
|
|
Oct 5 2012 - 10:01am
Glowing photophores are visible on a squid (Abralia veranyi) viewed from below at low light levels. We think of light as a way to see in the dark. But many species use it to help them hide. This adaptation is called counterillumination. Seen from below, an animal might stand out as a dark shape...
|
Nov 20 2009 - 3:35pm
Giant squid live up to their name: the largest giant squid ever recorded by scientists was almost 43 feet (13 meters) long, and may have weighed nearly a ton. You’d think such a huge animal would be hard to miss. But because the ocean is vast and giant squid live deep underwater, they remain...
|
|
Jan 26 2010 - 11:45am
These Pacific cephalopods illustrate the wide diversity among this group of mollusks. You can learn about a relative, the giant squid (Architeuthis dux), in our Giant Squid section.
|
Jan 26 2010 - 11:45am
Dr. Clyde Roper, Smithsonian zoologist and squid expert, tries to measure up to a giant squid specimen (Architeuthis) from New Zealand. The squid wins. More about the giant squid can be found in our Giant Squid featured story.
|
|
Jan 26 2010 - 11:46am
Published in 1882 by Yale Professor A.E. Verrill, this is the first scientific illustration of a giant squid. More about the giant squid can be found in the Giant Squid section.
|
Jan 26 2010 - 11:45am
This is the first photograph of a live giant squid (Architeuthis) in its natural habitat. It was taken in 2004 by two Japanese researchers who had suspended a long line from their research vessel with a camera and bait attached. More about the giant squid can be found in our Giant Squid section.
|
|
Jan 26 2010 - 11:45am
The Pharaoh Cuttlefish (Sepia pharaonis) lives in warm waters (30°C) in the western Indian Ocean. Cuttlefish are the most commonly caught cuttlefish species in the Persian Gulf, either for aquarium use or human consumption. This one was photographed in an aquarium at the visitor's center for the...
|
Aug 24 2010 - 10:11am
Dr. Clyde Roper recounts the tale of his encounter with a giant squid specimen (Architeuthis dux) that was found washed up on a Massachusetts beach in this excerpt from "Eyeball to Eyeball," an episode of Errol Morris' First Person television series. After the giant squid was...
|
|
Jan 25 2013 - 11:21am
In 2012, the long-elusive giant squid was finally filmed live in its natural habitat. The squid was found by placing glowing lures outside of a submersible to mimic jellyfish, which typically indicate to the squid that food is nearby. Before this encounter, the giant squid had never been observed...
|
Nov 20 2009 - 5:17pm
Watch a Discovery video on Smithsonian squid expert Clyde Roper’s search for giant squid in Kaikoura Canyon off the coast of New Zealand. More about giant squid can be found in our Giant Squid featured story.
|
