Common knowledge and the unknown.

[Fishteacher73]

I was reading a book(Search for the Giant Squid by Richard Ellis)about the giant squid (mainly Architeuthis sp.) but there are about a dozen species of large squid (15+ feet). One thing that stuck me as a bit odd was the absence of much technical info about the group as a whole. The book was well researched, citing as much technical data as is really out there, but also citing Guinness Book of Records and some Time/Life books. You would think that something that has at least the recognition as the giant squid would have some decent sources of information outside of such dubious sources.

[Buffy]

Originally Posted by Fishteacher73

You would think that something that has at least the recognition as the giant squid would have some decent sources of information outside of such dubious sources.

You'd think, huh. OTOH, these suckers are unbelieveably hard to get your hands on, as they live and die deep where we don't/can't go. Even the Monterey Bay aquarium would have trouble holding one for observation. I think the need to go to those "popular" sources is that much of what we know is anecdotal and its provenance is via non-scientific observations.

I'm sure it would be unbelieveably expensive to put on an expedition to track and observe them (need to get a Los Angeles-class attack sub and put a big glass dome on it?), and unless someone finds out that their livers provide a cure for cancer, no one is going to put up the money....

Cheers,
Buffy

[Turtle]

___I think a bunch of giant squid washed up a year or two ago (possibly India?) & they were trying to salvage & freeze as many as possible for study.
___I had a brother in law who was a shrimp fisherman on the Pacific North coast & he came home one day with a 4 to 5 foot squid. We diced that sucker up & it was not bad eating. This 'little' squid had a beak the size of a tennis ball & judging from the knot of muscle around it it easily could bite off an arm at the wrist. Just imagine the beak on a giant squid!
___By the way, some of those that washed up I recall were up to 50 feet in length!

[Buffy]

I still think that the giant squid scene in 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea is one of the best action sequences ever committed to film... and a young Kirk Douglas with unbelievable abs is irresistable!

Cheers,
Buffy

[Turtle]

___That is a great scene Buff, although I don't specifically recall Kirk's abs.
___Now unlike octopi, squid have more hard parts than the beak. They have 8 arms with suckers like the octopi, but an additional 2 arms (they are the longest) which are covered with hard backward curved hooks. Very interesting creatures in many ways.
___I wonder if Verne knew of giant squid back then or if he just made up the idea?

[C1ay]

Originally Posted by Turtle

___I wonder if Verne knew of giant squid back then or if he just made up the idea?

It looks like the family Architeuthidae goes back to around 1860 in the taxonomy tree. I think this predates Verne's tale

[Fishteacher73]

There are sources describing giant squids back into the 1400's. A lot of Norse mythology deals with the Kraken, a giant squid.
Most of the really big teuthids are in a group known as amoniacal squids, that have heavy concentartions of amonia in their systems wich allows them to be neutally boyant, and generally taste very bad. Spem whales routinely eat them (some sources put large squid at about 30-40% of their diet) but they don't have taste buds, so the taste really isn't an issue with them.
The clawed squids are from two groups known as mesoteuthids (if I recall thats the right spelling) and another group that I don't recall the names of, but the big boy, archetuthis, actually does not have claws.