Giant Squid: Fact or Fiction?

For centuries many have wonder of what lurks in the depths of the ocean. One of the most famous creatures is the fabled giant squid. However in recent years we have come to discover that this fabled creature is more than that. The giant squid is real.

The shot above was taken from Tsunemi Kubodera from the National Science Museum of Japan. Back in 2004 he and several others had led an expedition to photograph this sea creature. This was aired on the Discovery Channel. They succeeded in retrieving a picture that was not as good as the one above, but were happy to finally have prove of its existence. The current picture is 2006 and there is now video taken from Tsunemi.

Here are some facts about giant squids: Giant squid are very widespread, occurring in all of the world's oceans. They are usually found near continental and island slopes from the North Atlantic Ocean. Recent studies show that giant squid feed on deep-sea fish and other squid species. They catch prey using the two tentacles, gripping it with serrated sucker rings on the ends. Then they bring it toward the powerful beak, and shred it with the radula (tongue with small, file-like teeth) before it reaches the esphogus . They are believed to be solitary hunters, as only individual giant squid have been caught in fishing nets. It is thought that they reach sexual maturity at about 3 years; males reach sexual maturity at a smaller size than females.

The rest of this and more facts about the giant squid see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giant_squid

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