HOBART, Tasmania, Australia (12 July 2007) -- There's something strange about giant squid, Tasmania and the month of July. The life of the big white monster with the club-ended tentacles is largely hidden in the pitch dark of the deep ocean. Very few are seen dead, much less alive. But around this island's shores Architeuthis, the giant squid, has washed up dead in midwinter for at least the fifth time in 21 years. Yesterday zoologists retrieved the latest animal from Ocean Beach near Strahan, better known as the last resting place of the giant squid's predator, the sperm whale, which strands frequently. Each of the species may be using a network of undersea canyons that run from the continental shelf down to the abyssal plain off Tasmania's north-west. The latest creature appeared to be in good condition, although missing its longest predatory tentacles, which can zip together before shooting out to seize prey. The rest of its brown mottled white body, about four metres long and weighing hundreds of kilograms, lay curled on the sand. "The main mantle is like a really large calamari," zoologist Genefor Walker-Smith, of the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, said after helping to heave it into a trailer off the sand. David Pemberton, senior curator at the museum, has monitored the intriguing cluster of wash-ups since 1986: one in late June and three others in July. He believes there may be a link to diet or breeding patterns bringing the squid inshore. "If you take the dietary pattern, giant squid are hunting for blue grenadier off the west coast," said Dr Pemberton. "That's the key. There are big schools which gather in mid-winter in the deep waters." | | The attack of "the big white monster with the club-ended tentacles", which ate all of Hobart's women and children before it finally succumbed to indigestion.  View larger imageBut tightly timed breeding patterns may also play a part. Giant squid, just like their smaller cousins, breed and then die. Another giant squid that Dr Pemberton examined near Hobart in 2003 was a recently mated female carrying sperm packets embedded just under the mantle. Her body also showed signs of an embrace, with sucker marks on her neck and a nip on her head. Whether this was passion or something more deadly is open to question. DNA analysis by Dr Pemberton and others later showed the stomach contents of a giant squid included other giant squid. SOURCE - The Sydney Morning HeraldSCUBA FORUMDISCUSS THIS TOPIC - Dive in and have your say at Scuba Forum |
