Eyes and Tentacles and Suckers, Oh My!

Today, May 5th, is Giant Squid Day on my blog. And hereth starts the Giant Squid info.

Scientific Classification:

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Mollusca
Class: Cephalopoda
Subclass: Coleoidea
Order: Teuthida
Suborder: Oegopsina
Family: Archituthidae
Genus: Archetuthis

Size
The giant squid we know, grows to monstrous dimensions, hence the frightening stories and sailor superstitions about this creature. One glance at this animal and you think that this is the end of you and your boat. The females have been measured up till 13 m at full length, and the males 10 m. That is pretty big. The females are larger, which is the reason why mating is so dangerous for males in the species of the giant squid. Look at the size of this great big brute!

Reproduction
The mating habits of the giant squid are not known, but many scientists have concluded that the male giant squid injects sperm with his spermatophore (which about 3 ft long, eww!) into the female giant squid and from therefore, the sperm is carried to the eggs and thus fertilized. We are not sure about this, as it is yet not proven.

Feeding
Giant squids feed on almost anything that they can find. Fish, sharks, pretty much the carnivore of the ocean. They are preyed on by sperm whales, which find their ammonia flavored flesh attractive. Lucky for them, we don't have any use for the giant squid or its ammonia, and we don't bother it as much as other species of animal. It is said that there have been great fights between giant squids and sperm whales, ending in either both rivals dead or one alive and deeply wounded. Both fighters are equally matched, and therefore the duels between these two colossus are almost always ended in death. Look at the marks of the suckers on a sperm whale's skin!

That's my report, basically. The giant squid is a shadowy creature and it rarely is caught on film, as shown here. If you see the video, you can see what I mean by being LARGE. I hope you enjoyed it, and tomorrow, check back for another animal report! Practice makes perfect!