SQUID STATS
Certainly, many interesting things have been in the news this month of April 2003. Among them , I think, was the story about a group of New Zealand fishermen, catching a rather impressive squid.
It was a young female of a certain type which grows ever larger than the so-called “Giant Squid”. They usually stay below 2000 meters, and are know to be an extremely active killer at depths of 6,561 feet, This dainty female weighed in at 300 pounds. It was sixteen feet long and it had razor sharp hooks in its tentacles. Its eyes measured about the size of your favorite dinner plate. Squid authorities say that, if this female had been allowed to grow into an adult stage, the result would be far larger than any squids seen. Their existence does not come as a surprise, because their hooks and beaks have been found in the stomachs of sperm whales for many years. Judging from the many cases in which such residue has been found, it is speculated that there must be a considerable population of such super-giant squid in the Antarctic waters.
This squid has different food requirements too, when compared to the hungry Giant which, normally, chooses small prey. The colossal model going under the official name of Mesonychoteuthis hamiltoni ,and most likely, referred to as a “"hamilton"” or a “messo-ham” squid by men and women who talk about such things, also has a favorite food, faring well eating six-foot-long Patagonian toothfish. The eater's large cutlery equipped appendages - arms and tentacles - slashing hooks on tentacles and arms, probably help make the toothfish, tastier and much more tender on the way down.
It is unusual for this particular type of squid to be caught, but several have been washed up in the surf, often in sections, after suffering accidental death. They have been in common “use” among writers of fiction and fable writers in various languages for many years, usually depicted as a fury-driven creatures capable of trapping and sinking large ships. We still have much to learn about marine life in the lower depths of the sea. As we develop abilities need to do so, we can expect a surprise now and then when something unusual turns up. A fully grown “hamiltoni” squid may well be the next. You tend to it, when it does. I'll just sit back here and watch, thank you.
A.L.M. April 16, 2003 [c628wds]
