Colossus Squid
| Colossus Squid | ||||||||||||
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Colossus Squid ( Mesonychoteuthis hamiltoni ) |
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| Scientific name of the genus | ||||||||||||
| Mesonychoteuthis | ||||||||||||
| Robson , 1925 | ||||||||||||
| Scientific name of the species | ||||||||||||
| Mesonychoteuthis hamiltoni | ||||||||||||
| Robson, 1925 |
The colossal squid ( Mesonychoteuthis hamiltoni ) belongs to the jellyfish squids (Cranchiidae) and lives in the waters of the Antarctic . Its scientific name means "squid with central hook", alluding to the large claw-shaped chitin hooks on its tentacles.
features
The mantle of the colossal squid is extremely compact and ends in a spindle-shaped manner relatively abruptly. The fins on the back of the mantle are very large and powerful and identify him as a fast swimmer. The head with the enormously large eyes is equipped with eight catch relatively short arms and two thickened at the tips and with large claws provided tentacles reinforced. As with all squids, the skin is very thin and delicate, so it can be easily damaged. In freshly caught animals, the skin of which was mostly still intact, one could nevertheless see that these animals are predominantly dark pink in color.
Little is known about the giant squid, as only a few specimens caught by fishing trawlers have been examined. Mesonychoteuthis is a colossus among the squids and reaches a mantle length of two to possibly five meters, whereas the giant squid ( Architeuthis ) only has a maximum mantle length of just over two meters. This means that the former could have a total length of 12 to 14 m, taking into account a tentacle length of up to 8 m. With a diameter of up to 27 centimeters, the eyes are also significantly larger than those of the largest Architeuthis specimens.
Finds
The colossal squid species was first discovered in 1925. Few sightings or catches have been reported by fishermen. In April 2004, the first complete capture of a 150 kilogram female cub was reported. New Zealand hake fishermen documented the most spectacular catch to date on February 22, 2007. Off the coast of Antarctica , they pulled a 4.2-meter-long, 495-kilogram colossal female squid that had got caught in a line for hake. At eight inches in diameter, the squid had the largest eyes ever examined. The animal was examined in the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa and preserved in a chemical bath.
See also
literature
- Richard Ellis: Giant Octopus of the Deep Sea. ISBN 3-89365-876-9
Individual evidence
- ↑ Rui Rosa, Vanessa M. Lopes et al. a .: Biology and ecology of the world's largest invertebrate, the colossal squid (Mesonychoteuthis hamiltoni): a short review. In: Polar Biology. 40, 2017, p. 1871, doi : 10.1007 / s00300-017-2104-5 .
- ↑ Kerstin Viering: Giant Squids: Mysterious Giants. Background report at Spektrum.de, November 8, 2013.
- ↑ Adult Squid: Fishermen Catch Living Deep-Sea Colossus , Spiegel Online, February 22, 2007.
- ^ Colossal Squid Exhibition. Website of the New Zealand national museum Te Papa on the examined colossal squid.
Web links
- Current article May 1, 2007 ( Memento from June 27, 2009 in the Internet Archive )
- Current article February 22, 2007 ( Memento of November 9, 2009 in the Internet Archive )
- Article on Mesonychoteuthis and comparisons to Architeuthis
- BBC article about the largest Mesonychoteuthis ever caught with pictures
- BBC article on Mesonychoteuthis with pictures of a carcass
- Article about the discovery of a Mesonychoteuthis hamiltoni by New Zealand fishermen in the Antarctic on MSN.de from April 29, 2008
- A lecture by Scott Cassell on Colossal Squid and the Deep Voyager Project (video)