Jumbo flying squid invasion

[Mighty_Emperor]

Envisat fishes up facts behind Chilean giant squid invasion


22 March 2004

Masses of large ocean-going squid have inundated the shores of Southern Chile, alarming local fishermen who fear these carnivorous invaders could threaten fish stocks. Envisat has helped account for their otherwise mysterious arrival.

These jumbo flying squid – Dosidicus gigas is their Latin name – are some of the largest known squids on the planet: the ones here measure between 70 to 150 centimetres in length, although specimens have been known to reach more than three metres. Making their home in the open ocean, they rise to the surface at night to aggressively feed on small fish using barbed suckers.

In the final days of February more than 200 of the squid were washed up on the beaches around Ancud, on the northern coast of the island of Chiloé in southern Chile. Further incursions have since taken place towards Calbuco, on the inner side of the Chacao channel and towards the southern part of the island along the coast, up to Castro in the middle of the big island of 'Los Lagos' region of the country. Strandings have also been reported in more northerly areas such as Chile's VIII region.

Wondering why these deepwater animals unexpectedly made it to coastal waters is a matter of more than just scientific interest. Thousands of Chileans earn their livelihood from fishing in this part of the country, and these voracious cephalopods are known to prey on commercial fish including hake, sardines and anchovies. The squid themselves are a delicacy in some parts of the world but there is no local tradition of catching or consuming them.

But an explanation for the incursions was available – from 800 km away in space. Envisat's Advanced Along Track Scanning Radiometer (AATSR) instrument works like a space-based thermometer, taking the temperature of land and sea as it orbits the Earth. It can measure sea surface temperature (SST) to an accuracy of 0.3 degrees centigrade at a spatial resolution of one square km.

A Chilean team is currently working with AATSR SST results in combination with ocean colour data from another Envisat instrument, the Medium Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MERIS). The main goal of the project is to investigate the feasibility of a satellite-based early warning system for harmful phytoplankton blooms – explosive growths of sometimes toxic marine algae.

"The AATSR results show the appearance of the squid was connected with changes in the water mass conditions off the coast of Southern Chile in recent weeks," says Dr Cristina Rodríguez-Benito of oceanography company Mariscope Chilena.

This part of the Chilean coast, like most western continental coasts, is subject to upwellings – cold, nutrient-rich waters rise from the oceans depths as prevailing winds blow warmer surface waters away. The phenomenon supports rich fisheries. But the AATSR data reveal that a coastal upwelling that typically influencing the waters between Chiloé and the mainland was not seen in the last week of February.

"This caused an influx of warmer water, between 0.5 and 1.5 degrees, and also squid, which are attracted to steep temperature and salinity gradients in the sea where they find their food," adds Rodríguez-Benito. "The squid ended up in a lens of cold water between warmer masses, and this carried them into the inner Gulf of Ancud area.

"The decrease in water temperature in the inner areas can also have a direct effect on aquaculture, because the metabolic systems of fish species are very sensitive to such changes. Envisat's AATSR data registered a decrease of up to 3ºC.

"Even more important than temperature is the indication of the entrance of a water mass poor in oxygen that could be the reason for the losses already registered in some aquaculture sites.

"We are interested in such events as part of our main project because temperature gradients are often where new phytoplankton blooms occur. But the possibility of being able to predict these phenomena would be very useful also to the fishing industry."

The team plans to present their experiences of using Envisat data in this way to a conference this month of the Chilean Civil Protection Organisation.

http://www.esa.int/export/esaCP/SEMVNJYV1SD_index_0.html

 

[Mighty_Emperor]

Tuesday, 22 June


In search of explanations and solutions to the 'jumbo squid invasion'


A 27-vessel fleet from Talcahuano, in Region VIII, is to begin research this week into jumbo squid, a species local fishermen blame for a negative impact on several fisheries on, specially on hake.

The study, authorised by the Undersecretary of Fisheries, to last a month, will be conducted by members of the Institute of Fishing Research (INPESCA), who will extract samples of jumbo squid from the vessels' by-catches.

Besides serving to define their biological features and their impact on other species, the data collected by the experts will assist in determining resource biomass, thus defining whether jumbo squid fishery could be sustainable over time.

According to fishermen, the unexpected abundance of jumbo squid in Chilean waters has caused the distancing of jack mackerel and hake away from the fishing grounds, as well as the reduction of sardine and anchoveta stocks

This phenomenon started last year and has led many industrial vessels to request fishing permits from the authorities. Meanwhile, in San Antonio, in Region V, they have gone one step further and contacted Korean companies which might be interested in purchasing the product.

According to artisinal fishermen, who have only been able to catch 25 per cent of their monthly hake fishing quota, this could be extremely significant, since this could turn their desperate situation into an important source of income, generating employment.

The idea has been taken up in Cocholgüe, in Region VIII , where they are already looking for jumbo squid buyers. "It would be a way to reduce theopulation of moluscs, earn extra income and make hake come back to the region," the fishermen told El Sur.

http://www.falkland-malvinas.com/Detalle.asp?NUM=3826

From TONMO of course.

Emps

 

[CygnusRex]

Angler snags first jumbo flying squid found in British Columbia

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

VICTORIA, British Columbia -- What Gudy Gudmundseth wanted was salmon. What he got has made scientific history, the first Humboldt squid to be recovered from British Columbia waters.

The 6 1/2-foot, 44-pound Dosidicus gigas or jumbo flying squid, a purple-bodied cephalopod with two eyes, eight sucker-covered arms and two curly tentacles, occupies a formaldehyde tank at the Royal British Columbia Museum.

"It seems silly to get excited about a dead squid," said James A. Cosgrove, the museum's manager of natural history, "but it has such great implications.

This is an animal that should be down in South America, not in British Columbia or Alaska."

Gudmundseth said he and a friend were trolling for salmon with herring bait Saturday when they hooked what they first thought was a halibut off the east coast of Vancouver Island.

When a fiery red creature popped to the surface, they thought they had a Pacific red snapper. Then they saw tentacles and thought it was an octopus.

As the creature came closer to the boat, Gudmundseth realized it was a squid and tried to net it so he could set it free.

As Gudmundseth tried to extract hooks from the squid's beak and eye, the squid attacked with its tentacles, changing from bright red to brilliant white to brown to bright red again and back to brown in the struggle.

"It was quite a light show," Gudmundseth said.

Figuring the squid was too injured to survive, he put it on ice and reported the find to a Canadian fisheries officer the next day.

"She told me not to eat it. She told me it could be a rare specimen," he said, "so now I've donated it to the museum."

Cosgrove noted that a Humboldt squid was picked up in Alaska on Sept. 24 and others have been reported in Washington state and Oregon, raising a number of scientific questions.

"Why are they here? Why has the water column changed? And what else has come with it?" he said.

There have been two recent reports of offshore fishermen believing they spotted great white sharks near Vancouver Island.

"If there are warm-water squid in our waters, there's no reason there wouldn't be other warm-water animals as well," Cosgrove said

Source

I'm glad they didn't put his age, it leaves me with my first impression, which was of a small boy at the end of a pier with a home-made rod, reeling in a 6½ ft psychodelic jumbo flying squid

 

[Mighty_Emperor]

More jumbo flying squid found in northern waters

Thursday, October 14, 2004



(10-14) 19:01 PDT SITKA, Alaska (AP) --

A large Humboldt squid caught offshore from Sitka is among numerous sightings of a species seen for the first time in waters of the Far North.

The 5-foot Dosidicus gigas, or jumbo flying squid, was shipped this week to California to be kept for research at the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History.

The squid was one of a number caught with a dip net by Petersburg fisherman Alan Otness and his crew on Sept. 18 as they baited longline gear at night. They brought back some of the creatures for examination by experts.

Eric Hochburg, curator of the Santa Barbara museum, said the species is usually found off Baja California and farther south. They make their home deep in the open ocean, rising to the surface at night to aggressively feed on small fish using barbed suckers.

"It becomes sort of newsworthy when they move out of Mexico into California and farther up," Hochburg said.

The farthest north the species has been reported until this year was off the coast of Eugene, Ore., in 1997, said James A. Cosgrove, manager of natural history at the Royal British Columbia Museum. Before that year, the farthest north the jumbo squid was seen was near San Francisco, Cosgrove said.

Until this summer, there have been no other sightings in the north, according to Cosgrove.

"It's unprecedented," he said. "It speaks of a fundamental change in the ocean along the coast."

The Canadian museum is keeping a 6 1/2-foot, 44-pound Dosidicus gigas in a formaldehyde tank. The animal -- a purple-bodied cephalopod with two eyes, eight sucker-covered arms and two curly tentacles -- was caught Oct. 2, the first of the species recovered from British Columbia waters.

Since news of that discovery was made public, Cosgrove has received seven additional reports of other sightings since late July of jumbo squid in northwest waters from Oregon to Alaska. Beside the Sitka catch, the squid were spotted near Yakutat and Kodiak Island.

Hochburg, with the Santa Barbara museum, is researching the northern distribution of the species. He has collected other specimens this summer and has data on them dating back over 100 years.

Hochburg plans to compare Otness's squid with the others, and hopes to determine its origin.

"We'll try to get a handle on are they moving north with warmer waters, and then do they die out as they head north, or does the cold water constrain their northward movement?" he said.

The 14-pound squid caught off Sitka is one of several marine species usually found in warmer climates that have been seen or caught in Alaska this year.

The first thresher shark to be caught in 14 years in Sitka Sound was caught last month. Two rare great white sharks were spotted in Southeast this summer, and the carcasses of a hard-shell turtle and a jack mackerel were also recently found in this region, far north of their usual habitat.

Bruce Wing, a biological oceanographer with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in Juneau, attributes the presence of warm water species to an increase in ocean temperatures.

Wing said water temperatures throughout the Pacific Ocean have been higher than usual all summer. The latest figures for Sitka, he said, show the sea water is 2 degrees Celcius above average.

Currents also are a factor. Wing said that if an animal moves beyond the border of the North Pacific Transition Zone it will get caught in a northerly current that could bring it far beyond its usual range.

Otness, who has fished in Southeast Alaska for more than 30 years, said the squid he caught was part of a school that may have numbered in the thousands.

"They were hissing and spitting," he said. "One of them even tried to bite my deckhand."

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/news/archive/2004/10/14/state2052EDT7962.DTL

 

[Mighty_Emperor]

Huge Squid Wash Ashore Near Long Beach

October 18, 2004

By KOMO Staff & News Services


LONG BEACH - When hundreds of giant squid washed up dead on the Long Beach Peninsula last weekend, Dean Marsh knew exactly what to do: He stocked his freezer.

"No sense letting them go to waste," said the 57-year-old bait salesman, who planned to cut them up and sell them to fishermen.

An estimated 1,000 to 1,500 Humboldt jumbo flying squid - typically found off the coast of Mexico - have washed up on southwest Washington beaches in the past few days, said Greg Bargmann, a marine fish manager with the state Fish and Wildlife Department.

What's killing them isn't clear.

"They're like salmon: They spawn and then they die," Bargmann said. "I don't know if this is post-spawning, or if the waters got so cold they couldn't take it anymore."

Tuna fishermen first reported seeing the squid about 30 miles off the southwest Washington coast in August. At the time, the ocean water was significantly warmer than usual - 67 degrees, instead of 50 to 55 degrees.

Ever since, the squid have surprised anglers as far north as Sitka, Alaska. One salmon fisherman in British Columbia hauled in a 6½-foot, 44-pound squid this month - a specimen that's now in a formaldehyde tank at the Royal British Columbia Museum.

"I've talked to some knowledgeable people who have lived on the coast for a long time, and they've never seen anything like this," Bargmann said. "We don't know what's causing it but it sure is interesting."

People have even started fishing for the giant squid. The Fish and Wildlife Department passed an emergency rule allowing people to keep one squid weighing more than 10 pounds. The ordinary limit is 10 pounds total, but many of the jumbo flying squid weigh more than that.

Some people have called Bargmann to ask if they can eat the dead squid they find on the beach.

"I sure wouldn't eat them. It would be like eating a deer on the side of the road," he said. "But if you catch them live they'd be good."

http://komotv.com/stories/33558.htm

 

[CygnusRex]

From a different source

Squid's mystery deepens after 1,000 wash ashore

Charlie Anderson
The Province
October 20, 2004

The mystery of the giant squid caught off B.C.'s coast has deepened after the washed-up bodies of more than 1,000 Humboldt jumbo flying squid were found on the weekend near Washington state's Long Beach.

Dosidicus gigas, which grow up to two metres long and can weigh 50 kilograms, normally live in waters between Southern California and the tip of South America. But this year, for the first time in scientific history, the squid have ventured as far north as Alaska.

A B.C. salmon sport fisherman, using herring bait, hooked one earlier this month off Port Renfrew. The unique catch is now pickled in formaldehyde at the Royal B.C. Museum in Victoria.

"It's an unprecedented situation as far as we're aware," James Cosgrove, the museum's manager of natural history, said yesterday. "There's never been scientific confirmation of Humboldt squid north of San Francisco, except for the El Nino event of 1997, and that one came up as far as central Oregon."

Earlier this month, Maple Bay sports fisherman Gudy Gudmundseth, 59, and a buddy hooked one of the fiery red squid on a salmon trolling trip on Swiftsure Bank off the west coast of Vancouver Island. At first, Gudmundseth thought he'd caught a halibut, then he believed it was a salmon. Whatever was on the end of the line was a good fighter.

When Gudmundseth saw the tentacles, he thought it was an octopus, but that didn't make much sense because the men were trolling at a depth of 42 metres and the ocean floor was at least 80 m down.

"As it got closer to the boat, I thought, 'C....t, we've got a big squid,'" the lifelong fisherman said last night. "It fought pretty hard in the net even."

Gudmundseth tried to extract the hooks that had caught in its beak and eyes, but realized the squid would probably not survive. The 20-kg squid reacted by firing its tentacles at Gudmundseth, all the time alternating in colour from bright red, brilliant white and brown.

"It kind of just waved [its tentacles] around and shot them around," he said. After putting the squid on ice, Gudmundseth called it a day. He later gave his odd catch to the museum.

Cosgrove said the discovery in the North Pacific of Humboldt squid, named after South America's Humboldt current, has astounded scientists.

There's speculation, said Cosgrove, that El Nino has something to do with drawing them northward. Water temperatures off the B.C. coast this summer were two-degrees C higher than average, the warmest on record.

"The year 1997-98 was a fairly big El Nino event and we've got an El Nino going on now, which we assume is the reason that these guys have come up the coast rather than going down to South America," said Cosgrove.

Washington state officials report that between 1,000 and 1,500 washed ashore on the Long Beach Peninsula on the weekend.

Cosgrove said the discovery is confirmation that thousands of squid have spent their time off the Washington and B.C. coasts between early August and early October.

Squid are migratory and follow schools of fish, their natural prey. Once a squid hooks on to a fish with the sharp teeth inside its suckers, it has little chance of escape.

The Humboldt squid is smaller than two other giant squid that can be found in B.C. waters. The North Pacific giant squid, Moroteuthis robusta, live in the Bering Sea, the North Pacific Ocean and the Gulf of Alaska can grow up to 270 kg and span 10 m. Even larger is the giant squid, Architeuthis dux, which can grow to 17.7 m and weigh 880 kg.

Source

 

[Yithian]

Giant Squid Arrive in Orange County

Jumbo squid wash up in California

Hundreds of dead large squid have been washing up on beaches in Orange County, California, puzzling scientists.

The creatures - which can reach 1.8m long (6 feet) and weigh up to 7.7kg (17lb) - normally inhabit deep waters and only come to the surface at night.

"These things are invading, and we don't know what's going on," an oceanography professor said.

A similar invasion of jumbo squid was reported further down the coast near San Diego in 2002.

Between 500 and 1,500 squid - thought to be Humboldt squid - are said to have strewn beaches in Orange County, including Newport Beach and Laguna Beach.

"They look like a miniature sea monster, something you'd see out of a Jules Verne novel," a lifeguard at Newport Beach, Eric Bauer, told local newspaper the San Diego Union Tribune.

Although aggressive predators underwater, with powerful tentacles and a sharp beak, scientists say the squid pose little threat to humans.

But because the dead squid began washing up on Tuesday, authorities have warned they could harbour bacteria - and are still capable of squirting out ink.

A range of possible reasons for the sudden beaching of the squid have been suggested - from recent heavy rains, to plentiful shoals of fish close to the shore, to strong tides.

"These things are invading, and we don't know what's going on," John McGowan, professor emeritus at Scripps Institution of Oceanography in La Jolla, told the San Diego Union Tribune.

"It may be they're following a warm California current. Oceanographers don't have a clue why a large population of squid like this is moving north or why they strand themselves."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4193409.stm

California in a slippery mystery
Some scientists think decline in predators may be behind surge in squids
By DAVID REYES
Los Angeles Times

NEWPORT BEACH, CALIF. - More than 1,500 jumbo squid — common to South America — have washed onto Orange County beaches in the last few days, leaving marine experts perplexed as to why so many of these torpedo-shaped mollusks have traveled so far north.

"We've known that there's something peculiar going on with those species," said John McGowan, professor emeritus at Scripps Institution of Oceanography in San Diego and one of the leading oceanographers on the West Coast.

Dotting Crystal Cove State Park beach up to Newport Beach, the creatures with their elongated, gooey-looking tentacles and oversized heads have caught beachgoers off-guard, said Eric Bauer, Newport Beach lifeguard captain.

"They look like a miniature sea monster, something you'd see out of a Jules Verne novel," he said.

Not fit to eat

Unlike their smaller cousin — known to most people as calamari — the beached and mostly juvenile pink and black Humboldt squids are not recommended for human consumption.

The creatures are typically found off Peru and elsewhere in South America, but in recent years they have been turning up in larger numbers in the Gulf of California, Oregon and Alaska.

McGowan called the recent stranding "dramatic," but said marine experts don't know much about the squids, including why they've reached Southern California.

"These things are invading, and we don't know what's going on," he said. "It may be they're following a warm California current. Oceanographers don't have a clue why a large population of squid like this is moving north or why they strand themselves."

Linda Blanchard, laboratory director at the Ocean Institute in Dana Point, said recent articles in scientific and wildlife journals suggested that the big squids were migrating because with sharks and other large predators being depleted by fishing, squids can forage without a threat.

"The belief is that with the heavy fisheries, especially in the Sea of Cortez (Gulf of California), focusing on sharks and big tunas, that maybe the big squids are coming in to fill that gap," she said.

'No one really knows'

"But the thing with these creatures is that no one really knows what they're doing here and why they strand," Blanchard said.

About 500 jumbo squids were found Tuesday and Wednesday along a six-mile stretch of beach in Newport Beach.

At Crystal Cove State Park, more than 1,000 creatures — some weighing 15 pounds — were stranded both days, with sightings of the squids in smaller numbers in Laguna Beach and a single jumbo at San Onofre State Beach in San Diego County.

"These were substantial," said Ken Kramer, Crystal Cove state superintendent. "They're in the 10- to 15-pound range. The seabirds are having a feeding frenzy."

A cleanup problem

For beach maintenance officials, the jumbo squids are a headache.

Dave Niederhaus, Newport Beach maintenance director, said that because of the recent Southern California storms, his crews have picked up 400 to 500 tons of debris that washed ashore.

"We've found dead raccoons and other animals. I would prefer picking up seaweed instead of these squid because even dead, they squirt you with ink," Niederhaus said.

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/nation/3002020

 

[rynner2]

Lots more here
http://www.forteantimes.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2754

Also see
http://www.forteantimes.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1708

 

[Mighty_Emperor]

rynner: Nope technically while they may be giant squid they are not Giant Squid - they are really jumbo squid. I've merged this with the thread dealing with the Humboldt squid invasions elsewhere.

 

[ARRRRRRRRGH]

Humboldt squid pics

You might be interested in this page of Humboldt squid pictures.
http://www.seacamsys.com/hb_squid.htm

I was also under the impression that they were not rare, but
certainly very out of place in northern seas.
They are facinating creatures. I find more background info on them,
I'll post it.

 

[Anonymous]

Re: Humboldt squid pics

You might be interested in this page of Humboldt squid pictures.
http://www.seacamsys.com/hb_squid.htm

I was also under the impression that they were not rare, but
certainly very out of place in northern seas.
They are facinating creatures. I find more background info on them,
I'll post it.

Pretty impressive shots!

I saw some video of the specimens washed up on a beach. They looked substantial enough to inflate and use as the tyres on a quad bike.

I'm sure that was just an illusion caused by them drying out in the sun.

 

[ARRRRRRRRGH]

Re: Humboldt squid pics

I saw some video of the specimens washed up on a beach. They looked substantial enough to inflate and use as the tyres on a quad bike.

I'm sure that was just an illusion caused by them drying out in the sun.

I dunno, I think they're impressive animals.
Often 5-6ft long, according to some sources.
There also seems to be some contoversy in naturalist circles whether they're dangerous or harmless to swim with.

The guy who took those pictures tells an impressive story of a poweful and dangerous predator:
http://diver.net/seahunt/fend/f_scottc.htm
You might want to take alook at the picture of the fisherman holding a squid on that page... ceartaily looks substantial to me.

While the National geographic paints a more ambiguous picture:
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2003/07/0718_030718_jumbosquid.html

I was going to post all this a couple of months ago, but until these squid decided to make a bid to take over the world, it didn't have a fortean angle

 

[Mighty_Emperor]

If there are any more beachings and there are any nearby FTMBers try and grab some and jam them in the freezer as Steve O' Shea would like some:

www.tonmo.com/forums/showthread.php?t=3571

 

[Mighty_Emperor]

I think someone is getting mixed up between Giant Squid and these jumbo squid (although possibly deliberatly so to make it a more interesting report )

They came from beneath the sea

Just like in 1930: Giant squid invade Bay Area by the millions

Tom Stienstra

Sunday, February 27, 2005


For years as a boy, I'd find myself mesmerized by a page in my favorite wildlife book -- you may remember this yourself -- a drawing of a giant squid wrapping its tentacles around a sperm whale.

Some of my classmates thought this drawing, squid vs. whale at the bottom of the ocean, was a portrayal from the prehistoric days of dinosaurs and T-Rex. But I remember staying up late at night, under the covers with a flashlight with that book, fixated with the drawing, and then reading about the never- ending war between the giant squid and sperm whales that still goes on today.

In the ocean's deepwater trenches, perhaps 2,000 to 5,000 feet deep, sperm whales would attack and eat the giant squid. In turn, the giant squid, some up to 60 feet long, would grab a whale and try to drown it, and if the squid won the fight, be joined by other giant squid and devour the whale. Scientists verified this by measuring the length of the squid tentacle's suction-cup marks that were found on the sides and backs of dead whales that washed up, as well as from the size of the beaks of giant squid that were found in the stomachs of whales.

This childhood memory has taken on a shocking present-day twist with the arrival of another species of giant squid, the Humboldt squid, also called the "jumbo squid," offshore of the Bay Area and along much of the Pacific Coast. They average 15 to 60 pounds and generally measure up to six feet long, but there is a historical record of one that reached 700 pounds. They have not been seen in significant numbers on the Pacific Coast since 1930.

Yet here they are, these giant squid, not hundreds, not thousands, but millions of them. They have roared in from the depths across the Pacific to within 20 miles of Half Moon Bay and Bodega Bay. Many others have been documented near northern Baja, San Diego and even Oregon and Washington.

Voracious predators

Like their 60-foot cousins from the deepwater trenches, they are voracious predators. They have 10 tentacles, including two long tentacles they use to pull their prey in to their razor-sharp beaks.

These tentacles are lined with teeth-lined sucker cups, and with 24 micro teeth in each sucker cup, each squid has some 25,000 teeth. They school in massive hordes and then gang up to swarm in maniacal feeding frenzies. When set off, they will even eat each other, and anything else in their path.

They are roaming the canyons aside underwater seamounts off the Bay Area, 400 to 2,000 feet deep, and then can fire up to the surface, swarming around boats by the hundreds. Those aboard gawk in disbelief as the squid swirl and surge in 20-foot blasts from their water jets, changing from the classic white- bleach color to black, red or opaque with a phosphorescent glow.

This discovery started on New Year's Day on a scientific research trip out of Bodega Bay run by Rick Powers on the New Sea Angler. Powers had volunteered his boat for a research trip with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to study rockfish reproduction at Cordell Bank.

"I was looking for chilipepper rockfish, so we ran to the deep water at the Bank, 380 to 450 feet of water, and looking at my fishfinder, I saw this little mark on the bottom," Powers said. "We let down and started hooking giant squid."

In the past three weeks, the discovery has turned into a phenomenon.

In 13 trips on the New Sea Angler to Cordell Bank, a total of 640 people (40 per trip) have caught some 9,000 squid, that is, an average of 14 per person. The average squid has been 20 pounds, with the largest, weighing 58 pounds, caught by Pat Martin of Sacramento. Most fishermen are going home with 150 to 200 pounds of 1-inch thick calamari steaks.

Out of Half Moon Bay, Capt. Tom Mattusch had similar success when he made the first exploratory trips on his boat, Huli Cat. His first try, with six people aboard, was a shock, catching 53 squid with many 40-pounders and one 6- footer. It was the first time that the Humboldt squid has ever been taken by recreational anglers out of Half Moon Bay. In San Diego this past week, it was similar story, where 51 anglers aboard the boat New Seaforth caught 290 squid.

And yet you can get skunked just as easily, as Powers reported from a trip last weekend. The squid are so voracious and such fast swimmers that they are continually on the move in their search for food. "Now you see them, no you don't."

Attributed to El Niño

Most credit the arrival of giant squid to this winter's mild El Niño event, where the water is 54 to 57 degrees off the Bay Area coast instead of a more typical 47 to 52 (for February). Sunfish, also known as mola molas, more typical in warm Southern California waters, have also been spotted in the Gulf of the Farallones in the past two weeks. According to scientists, these squid will eat 10 to 25 pounds of meat daily and can grow an inch in that day, and yet they only live a year or two.

To catch them, anglers are using a Squid Jig, which looks like a cross between a giant chrome bar and the blades on a commercial wood chipper. It is 19 inches long, weighs 11/2 pounds and has five sets of 16 spike-like points, or 480 hooks. In the midst of a feeding frenzy, though, they will hit anything.

You usually start fishing 300 to 600 feet deep, but some anglers with large capacity reels go even 1,200 feet deep. You can feel the squid wrap their tentacles around the jig and the rod gets heavy, and then suddenly, the squid takes off in 20-foot bursts, using their water jet propulsion. The best comparison is that the fight is like that of a big tail-hooked halibut. But instead of catching them one at a time, everybody aboard can hook up simultaneously, and on deck, the moment is absolute bedlam.

Yet it can get crazier. When you bring one to the surface, hundreds of giant squid can suddenly surround the boat, and they can start attacking each other. According to one story, when one squid was being gaffed at the rail, another squid shot into the air and attacked the gaff, and then several other squid turned and attacked the jumping squid.

"People go absolutely ape," Powers said. "It's like nothing we've ever seen, and like nothing we may ever see again."

With these stories, the image that keeps running through my mind is that boyhood drawing of the giant squid grabbing the sperm whale. One of my editors suggested I try to hook up with a deepwater expedition in a miniature submarine to try to video and photograph such a fight for the first time in history. It turns out that a production company will try just that in the depths of the Carrandi trench off Spain in the Atlantic Ocean.

But a new vision keeps popping into my head: Instead of grabbing a whale, a 60-foot squid instead wraps its tentacles around the miniature sub, draws it in and then, with one bite of its giant beak, crushes it.

----------------------------
-- Reporter's note: To help research this story, I'd like to thank field scouts Pence MacKimmie and Bob Franko, the Coastside Fishing Club, Powers, Mattusch, biologists Travis Tanaka and Carrie Wilson of the Department of Fish and Game, and the Bodega Bay Marine Lab.

-- If you want to go: $70. Huli Cat, Princeton (650) 726-2926; New Sea Angler, Bodega Bay (707) 875-3495.

The TV show, "Great Outdoors With Tom Stienstra," airs at 6:30 p.m. Sunday on KBHK-44 and Bay Area Cable 12.

Source

 

[Mighty_Emperor]

Mar 18, 7:13 AM EST

Dead squid wash up in California again

DANA POINT, Calif. (AP) -- Dead jumbo squid are again mysteriously washing up along Orange County's coastline, baffling scientists who are trying to find out why.

The Ocean Institute in Dana Point has conducted some of the research, shipping specimens to the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History and Stanford University for further study.

Scientists at the institute this week dissected a 5-foot-long, 15-pound female Humboldt squid that was filled with parasites and sand. More than a 100 squid have been spotted since Sunday between Dana Point and San Clemente.

Still, there are no answers.

"We still don't know what's killing them," said Linda Blanchard, lab director of the Ocean Institute who has dissected about a dozen squid since they first washed up ashore in January. "All we have right now are theories."

Scientists believe the squid are swimming north from Mexico to follow food sources, forcing them to come closer to the surface and shore. Squid normally live and hunt 3,000 feet below the water's surface.

Eric Hochberg, curator of invertebrate zoology with the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History, said an active fishing industry in Mexico may be depleting the squid's diet, causing them to migrate into Southern California.

He said the squid possibly are discombobulated by sand churned up by tides.

Meanwhile, William Gilly, a biologist at Stanford's Hopkins Marine Station in Pacific Grove, is studying their stomach contents to determine whether the squid are being poisoned.

Even if scientists cannot discover why the squid are washing up ashore, they hope to learn about the mollusks' diet, where they spawn and the biology of their beaks.

"Before the squid were found dead on the beaches in the quantities that they have, we weren't studying them as hard as we are now," Blanchard said.

In January, about 1,500 Humboldt squid washed up on the Orange County coastline about a week after an oil spill from an undetermined source coated more than 1,000 seabirds off the Southern California coast. The squid were found on the sands of Laguna Beach, Newport Beach and Crystal Cove State Park. Some were spotted in northern San Diego County, at San Onofre State Beach.

---

Information from: Los Angeles Times, http://www.latimes.com

© 2005 The Associated Press.

Source

 

[Pietro_Mercurios]

Are they chasing the growing shoals of jellyfish, or coming to complain about the the growing lack of vertebrate fish?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/jul/17/giant-squid-attack-san-diego-divers

Just when you thought it was safe … giant squid terrorise Californian coast

Divers spooked by tales of assaults as swarms of aggressive jumbo flying squid invade the shallows off San Diego

Associated Press in San Diego. guardian.co.uk, Friday 17 July 2009

Jumbo flying squid have invaded the shallow waters off San Diego, California, spooking scuba divers and beachgoers after washing up dead on the beaches.

The carnivorous cephalopods, which weigh up to 45kg (100lb), came up from the depths last week, with swarms of them roughing up unsuspecting divers. Some reported tentacles enveloping their masks and yanking at their cameras and gear.

Stories of close encounters with the squid have chased many divers out of the water and created a whirlwind of excitement among those torn between their personal safety and the once-in-a-lifetime chance to swim with the deep-sea giants.

The so-called Humboldt squid, named after the current in the eastern Pacific, have been known to attack humans and are nicknamed "red devils" for their rust-red colouring and mean streak. Divers wanting to observe the creatures often bait the water, use a metal viewing cage or wear chainmail to avoid being lashed by the creature's tentacles.

The squid, which is most commonly found in deep water from California to the bottom of south America, hunts in schools of up to 1,200 individuals, can swim up to 15 mph and can skim over the water to escape predators.

"I wouldn't go into the water with them for the same reason I wouldn't walk into a pride of lions on the Serengeti," said Mike Bear, a local diver. "For all I know, I'm missing the experience of a lifetime."

The squid are too deep to bother swimmers and surfers, but many experienced divers say they are staying out of the surf until the sea creatures move on.

Roger Uzun, a veteran scuba diver and amateur underwater videographer, swam with a swarm of the creatures for about 20 minutes and said they appeared more curious than aggressive. The animals taste with their tentacles, he said, and seemed to be touching him and his wet suit to determine if he was edible.

Me, I think they're getting bored with an over-abundance of jellyfish and getting hungry for some red meat, with corpuscles!

:shock:

 

[Pietro_Mercurios]

Not jumbo-sized, but jet propelled. Seemingly, these squid can actually fly. Pictures with article.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/...-speeds_n_2647375.html?utm_hp_ref=mostpopular

Japanese Flying Squid's Abilities Confirmed, Speed Measured By Scientists

The Huffington Post. By Jacqueline Howard. 02/09/2013

There have been numerous sightings of a certain type of Japanese squid "flying" above the ocean's surface, and now scientists have offered an explanation.

How does the Japanese flying squid catch air? It releases a high-pressured water jet for propulsion, and then spreads its fins like wings to glide above the water, according to a new study from marine biologists at Hokkaido University.

What's more, the squid can speed through the air at over 11 meters per second. That's faster than Usain Bolt, who averaged only 10.3 meters per second in the 2012 London Olympics.

"There were always witnesses and rumors that said squid were seen flying, but no one had clarified how they actually do it," biologist Jun Yamamoto of Hokkaido University told AFP. "We have proved that it really is true."

The researchers tracked about 100 squid in the northwest Pacific Ocean in July 2011, and there they observed the creatures launching into the air. When flying, the squid can remain airborne for about three seconds and travel upwards of about 30 meters, Yamamoto told AFP.

He added that as the squid are vulnerable when flying, it's possible they may be a source of food for sea birds or other predators.

(hat tip, AFP)

Ain't Nature wonderful? :lol:

 

[GNC]

There's a kaiju eiga in that somewhere...