The colossal squid is a squid that is a member of the Cranchiidae family, or glass squids.
It is the largest member of this family and is overall the second largest squid.
It can weigh as much as 1,500 pounds and can be as large as 46 feet.
It is generally found in the southern parts of the world.
The colossal squid is one of the biggest specimen's in the ocean which makes competition for food sometimes fierce.
While it does not happen often, colossal squids and sperm whales sometimes compete for food resulting in the death of the sperm whale or the colossal squid. Overall the sperm whale often times wins, but if the squid can get the the whale down to a deeper sea level, since it does not have to breathe it can drown a sperm whale.
As said before, Colossal Squids have an interesting diet. Based on its metabolism, it only needs about an ounce of food in a day. This food often times is large fish. One of its favorite meals is the Antarctic toothfish. Not much is know about its eating habits. Its main predators however include sperm whales and sleeper sharks.
The largest Colossal Squid ever captured is now on display at the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa.The colossal squid is by far the biggest squid species. The colossal squid also has the biggest eyes documented in the animal kingdom. This results in the colossal squid having great success in ambushing its prey. Colossal squids can detect the movement of sound wayed, however they tend to rely more on visual detection than hearing to hunt prey and to stay away from predators.
The colossal squid was first discovered in 1925 by a man named Guy Coburn Robson. He did not actually see the squid, but found two of their beaks in the stomach's of sperm whales. The first time that a colossal squid was ever caught was in 1981 by a Soviet Russian trawler in the Ross Sea off the coast of Antarctica. The first time that a fully living colossal squid was caught was in 2005 off of South Georgia Island. The biggest ever caught was in 2007. It measured 10 meters and weighed about 450 kilograms.
This squid is a complete outlier of almost every entire other squid that is know to man..
| Colossal Squid | Humboldt Squid | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Length: | 46 feet | 3.3 feet | |
| Average Weight: | 1,091 lbs | 110 lbs | |
| Location: | Circumantarctic Southern Ocean | Sea of Cortez | |
| Population: | Undetermined | 20,000,000 |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colossal_squid