A dead giant squid, 4 meters long and weighing about 330 kg, was found on South African beaches
He is about to end up run over, his mother saves himA huge squid, beached on the beaches of South Africa. A married couple found him by chance on 7 June. Adele Grosse and her husband were literally in awe as they strolled along the beach on the Golden Mile near Cape Town.
Lying on the sand, the poor animal was lifeless. About 4 meters long and weighing about 330 kg, the squid found in South Africa is very rare.
2Oh my God, seeing him at first blew me away. Honestly, he looked like a majestic prehistoric animal, ”said Adele Grosse.
These huge, cone-shaped marine animals use their large, beak-like mouths to feed on deep-sea fish and smaller squid that they attract with their strong tentacles. The giant squid can grow up to 20 meters in length and its life expectancy is around five years. According to initial estimates, the specimen found in South Africa could be about two years old.
It's unclear how he died but “we had big storm surges the night before, and I realized this beautiful squid arrived on the beach early in the morning. We looked for signs of injuries or injuries and couldn't find anything, ”Grosse said
Grosse managed to get in touch with someone who could help her: Wayne Florence, curator of marine invertebrates in the Iziko Museums of South Africa. Florence and her team brought the squid with them to investigate the cause of death.
Just found this 4m squid on the beach. How I wish I can just pull it back to sea. Nature.
Posted by Adéle Grosse on Sunday, June 7, 2020
Sightings like this are very rare, Michael Vecchione, a zoologist at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History in Washington, DC, told Live Science. The protagonists are the giant squid (Architeuthis dux), carnivorous animals whose 30 centimeter wide eyes are the largest known in the animal kingdom.
For those who wondered what happened with the giant squid. It is now at the IZIKO museum.
Posted by Adéle Grosse on Tuesday, June 9, 2020
It is so rare to see A. dux, whose stories inspired the Kraken, the legendary shipwreck, as well as the killer creature described in Jules Verne's 1869 book "Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea".
There are still many mysteries surrounding this colossus, but scientists have figured out that they usually live between 600 and 1.000 meters below the surface of the sea, in underwater canyons and in the depths. These areas likely have plenty of food for such giant creatures, including fish and cephalopods.
The Golden Mile squid will now be added to the South African Museuo's marine invertebrate collection.
Dr Wayne Florence © Iziko Museums of South Africa.
“Historically it was thought that giant squid belonged to several species, but based on DNA analysis of the specimens kept at the museum, it is widely recognized that they are all attributable to a single species called Architeuthis dux. The specimens newly acquired for basic taxonomic research have the potential for the discovery of new species, underscoring the need for active museum collections, ”the museum team explains in a statement.
Inside Iziko there are other giant squid including the largest specimen ever discovered in that area, about 9 meters long.
Sources of reference: Livescience, Iziko Museum of South Africa,
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