Rare giant squid washes up on beach (with pic)

A 550lb, 26 foot long specimen washed ashore on a beach in Tasmania, Australia yesterday. It is approximately the length of a bus, and 3 feet across at its widest point. That's a whole lot of calimari. Too bad the giants are lousy tasting though. lol

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I am so sorry to see this happenning repeatably in the past several years. There are so many speculations as to why from military underwater operations that interfere with their natural ability to remain at the natural depts or that it interferes with natural navagation, to global warming and the release of natural occuring chemicals from the polar ice cap melt off to the loss of plankton and other sea chain type events. I am hoping that in time this will reverse and all will be well with our planet again. I personally think it has to do with the Shifting of the earths axis and it will only end when the poles make their final shift.

interesting..the photo looks like it must be about 8 feet long and apprx 1 foot wide???? I dont't get it. Do they have tiny busses in Au?

well we have buses! I think once you pull the tentacles to full lenth it will show the squid at full size! (26 feet) But at a glance the body would only be so long.

Unfortuantly its sad to see, These squids are poping up more and more.

From memory there was one washed up in Tassie a couple of years ago much larger than this one. See if i cant find a linky.
There was speculation that they may breed in a fairly deep off shore shelf in that area which is why they seem to show up so often.

It's not like the giant squids are beaching themselves in mass like whales, why the comments from the above posters that seem to imply it is becoming more common? I have only heard of maybe 2 or 3 instances of a juvenile giant squid washing on shore. Have there been many more I am not aware of? When was the last beaching of a squid?

Originally posted by pavil
why the comments from the above posters that seem to imply it is becoming more common?

Ahhh..perhaps because it does seem to be more common!! Or maybe because humans have noticed it more as they move into previously unpopulated area's near the water!!
Since 1997 i have been able to find instances of 6 Giant squids washed up on Tasmanian beaches. Havent even tried to find the number worldwide, i know of at least another 2 or 3 near Japan. Thats close to 10 in the past 10 years from only 2 country's.

This is from 1997

fishermen trolling the waters off the coast of Tasmania recently scooped up three rare giant squid.
The discovery is making scientists squeal with delight and others squirm over the possibility that the creatures will be threatened by commercial fishermen.
The fishermen netted squid measuring about 15 meters (49.5 feet) from head to tentacle tip.

This is from 2002

The specimen weighs about 250 kilograms and would be 15 to 18 metres long if its two tentacles were still attached. It is in very good condition.

This is from july 2006

The squid weighs about 550 pounds (250 kilograms) and was found in two pieces on Seven Mile Beach. Though her longest tentacles have been lost, estimates based on her remaining arms suggest she would have been around 50 feet—a little larger than the average giant squid, Architeuthis dux, found to date. She is not, however, a new species.

And the latest one

A giant squid has washed up near Strahan on Tasmania's west coast.
The squid, measuring about six metres long, was found last night on Ocean Beach by a member of the public.

I'll dig up some more if your still not convinced.

10 in 10 years does not seem like a lot to me. Three of them were netted by fisherman so you can't count those as washing up on shore. I understand that it is only 2 countries and we don't know enough of the Giant Squid to even guess on the world population of them. The oceans a really big place, lots of room for big creatures to swim in. I think you are correct, it is more a matter of mankind being in the right place and actually noticing them. Plus I would reckon that a good amount of giant squid escape from the sperm whales hunting them but are hurt in the process. I don't see anything out of the ordinary, given the lack of information we have on the giant squid.


[edit on 11-7-2007 by pavil]

@pavil, 10 in 10 years probably is a lot compared to the past 100 years. Debatable?
I think the reason we are seeing more on Tasmanian beaches is the belief that they are reproducing in a deep off shore shelf, and apparently their lovemaking is quite intense and may end fatally for one of them occasionally.

Originally posted by mojo4sale
@pavil, 10 in 10 years probably is a lot compared to the past 100 years. Debatable?

Sure it debatetable, mainly since we know so little of the giant squids behavior, reproduction rate, range ect ect.

Let's use another big sea creature as an example. How many whale sharks or basking sharks wash up on beaches seen by humans? I'm not sure but I think it tends to be about the same range. It does seem giant squids are rarer due to the depths they have to float up from, but 7 in 10 years does not sound unreasonable to me.

Originally posted by DimensionalDetective
A 550lb, 26 foot long specimen washed ashore on a beach in Tasmania, Australia yesterday. It is approximately the length of a bus, and 3 feet across at its widest point. That's a whole lot of calimari. Too bad the giants are lousy tasting though. lol

news.aol.com...

Hmmm...it's too bad the pic is not of the animal in question. That pic is from Tasmania - and it's certainly not 'as big as a bus and 550 pounds'. I wonder if any actual pics are about of this find?

J.

I had read somewhere that due to the increase in marine traffic, many whales are dying off because they can not communicate over long distances and get lost due to background noise from boats. Are there any valid links that show what humans have done to cause these squids to die off?

Originally posted by antar
...to global warming and the release of natural occuring chemicals from the polar ice cap melt off to the loss of plankton and other sea chain type events. I am hoping that in time this will reverse and all will be well with our planet again.

Our earth is a living breathing body. You can not expect something that has so much life on it to be steady and constant. Our earth is constantly and forever changing. I would be more worried if we weren't seeing changes in our earth today.

The ones that have died near Tasmania over the past few years are thought to be because of their violent mating according to some scientists.

If one can be a "fan" of an animal, then I am a arkytoothus "fan", I have always been interested in them and back 20 or so years ago there was only information about giand squid beaks bieng found in sperm whales along with huge sucker marks from an obvious struggle with an archyteuthus (excuse the spelling i have been very very liberal) I think giant squid beachings propably havent become anymore common than they ever were especially with the large # of eggs squids are known for laying, which i doubt is any different for the larger versions (its not like they carry them for 9 months and then raise them up through college. I think what has changed is that like another poster said, there are more people in areas where they beach, and now there are cameras on cell phones so anyone can snap a picture before the thing rots and can have reporters there in droves to take pictures and have the beast on the evening news, or on the internet.