WHEN SQUID FLY: New photographic evidence depicts a group of flying squid off the coast of Brazil. Notice the jets of water propelling the squid through the air.
Image: Bob and Deb Hulse
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Marine biologist Silvia Maciá was boating on the north coast of Jamaica in the summer of 2001 when she noticed something soar out of the sea. At first she thought it was a member of the flying fish family—a group of marine fish that escape predators by breaking the water's surface at great speed and gliding through the air on unusually large pectoral fins. But after tracing the creature's graceful arc for a few seconds, Maciá realized this was no fish. It was a squid—and it was flying.
With her husband and fellow biologist Michael Robinson, Maciá identified the airborne cephalopod as a Caribbean reef squid (Sepioteuthis sepioidea)—a lithe, torpedo-shaped critter with long, undulating fins. They think the squid was startled by the noise of the boat's outboard engine and estimated that the 20-centimeter-long mollusk reached a height of two meters above the water and flew a total distance of 10 meters—50 times its body length. What's more, the squid extended its fins and flared its tentacles in a radial pattern while airborne, as though guiding its flight.
"It was doing this weird thing with its arms where it had them spread out almost in a circle," recalls Maciá, who teaches at Barry University in Florida. "It had its fins kind of flared out as much as it could—it really looked liked it was flying. It hadn't accidentally flopped out of the water; it was maintaining its posture in a certain way. It was doing something active."
Squid surveillance
On a LISTSERV dedicated to mollusks, Maciá and Robinson (University of Miami), called out for any other researchers who had witnessed airborne squid—a phenomenon the husband and wife had not personally observed before. Maciá and Robinson received numerous replies from scientists with whom they eventually co-wrote a study in 2004 in the Journal of Molluscan Studies. The paper collects sightings of at least six distinct squid species squirting themselves out of the ocean and over the waves, sometimes solo, sometimes in packs—sometimes with enough force to match the speed of boats or wind up on decks. But the paper includes no photographs or video clips; its evidence is largely anecdotal. The fact is that documented instances of flying squid are incredibly rare. Most people are unprepared for such a sight.
Recently, however, on a cruise ship off the coast of Brazil, retired geologist and amateur photographer Bob Hulse captured what may be the best-ever photographic evidence of flying squid. Hulse sent the pictures to University of Hawaii oceanographer Richard Young, who passed them along to Ron O'Dor, senior scientist for the Census of Marine Life. O'Dor thinks he can analyze the photos to gain a better understanding of squid aerodynamics, which few people have been able to properly study due to lack of adequate documentation.
"Hulse was shooting with burst mode on his camera, so I know exactly what the interval is between the frames and I can calculate velocity of squid flying though the air," O'Dor says. "We now think there are dozens of species that do it. Squid are used to gliding in the water, so the same physiology probably allows them to maneuver and glide in the air. When you look at some of the pictures, it seems they are more or less using their fins as wings, and they are curling their arms in [a] shape that could easily be some kind of lifting surface."
From fin to wing
The 2004 paper's authors argue that "gliding" is too passive a term to describe what squid do when they leave the ocean for the air: "flight" is more fitting.
"From our observations it seemed like squid engage in behaviors to prolong their flight," Maciá says. "One of our co-authors saw them actually flapping their fins. Some people have seen them jetting water while in flight. We felt that 'flight' is more appropriate because it implies something active."
The aerodynamic benefit an airborne squid derives from flapping fins and spiraled tentacles is not clear, but some researchers hypothesize that these behaviors provide extra lift and help stabilize the squid when out of its primary element. In the water some squid spread their tentacles into a weblike pattern that facilitates swimming backward—a trick they could try to mimic in the air to gain an extra set of wings, some scientists have proposed. And rapidly changing the position of the tentacles could even function as a kind of brake.
Some squid don't rely on such subtle aerial acrobatics. Instead, like the squid photographed by Hulse, they forcibly propel themselves through the air. Some 370 kilometers off the coast of Sydney, Australia, one of the 2004 paper's co-authors witnessed a skipjack tuna chasing hundreds of what were probably arrow squid (Nototodarus gouldi). The school repeatedly leapt out of the ocean, spurting jets of water behind them as they flew through the air. Some arrow squid reached a height of three meters and flew a total distance of eight to 10 meters.
Fight or flight
For all these flying squid species, jet propulsion is the key for getting out of the water in the first place. First, a squid expands its mantle—the cloak of soft muscular tissue that surrounds its body—which fills with water. Then the squid quickly contracts it to send the trapped water shooting through a flexible tube below its head, called the funnel or siphon. By changing the position of this funnel, a squid can propel itself in almost any direction. Underwater, squid use jet propulsion to pounce on swift prey and escape intimidating predators. But sometimes jetting through the currents is not enough to make a successful getaway—sometimes, a squid needs to get out of the water altogether. So they fly.
Biologists still do not fully understand the mechanics of squid aeronautics, but based on accumulating anecdotal and photographic evidence, they have no doubt that the phenomenon is real and widespread. "Flying is not at all unusual in several families of squid," says Michael Vecchione, a squid expert at the Smithsonian Institution. In particular, the families Ommastrephidae and Onychoteuthidae are known for their loftiness. "It's not uncommon to find squid on the deck of the ship in the morning," Vecchione adds. Many squid remain in the dark depths during the day to avoid predators, Vecchione explains, but when they venture into shallower waters at night to feed they are liable to jump out of the water in a panic and onto a boat.
These morning-after encounters are not infrequent, but catching a squid in the act of flight is still quite a feat. "It just happens so fast," Maciá says. "You really have to be in the right place in the right time."
Pictures of flying squid courtesy of Bob and Deb Hulse, who took the photos off the coast of Brazil. Ron O'Dor, senior scientist for the Census of Marine Life, and University of Hawaii oceanographer Richard Young think the squid are orangeback flying squid (Sthenoteuthis pteropus), although a colleague at the Smithsonian thinks they might be Argentine shortfin squid (Illex argentinus).
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12 Comments
Add CommentAbout ten years ago I was swimming off a beach in Turks & Caicos and saw about 15 small squid or cuttlefish zoom out of the water. They did look like flying fish.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisYep, another 100,000 years and we'll probably have something with tentacles hanging around our bird feeders.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIn Spain, where squids are a highly appreciated food, there is an squid species sold in fisheries and named "voladores" -flyers-. I always wondered about the origin of the name, but now, I know why. Salud +
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisYears back I read Thor Heyerdahl's Kontiki expedition and if I remember correctly he too had seen squids jumping out of water.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisJust yesterday we were boating and we had a squid fly into our boat off the west coast of Guam. Later on we saw another one. I got video of the squid after it flew into our boat. It was AMAZING!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisYou can view the video at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mjzHlxLCfuo
Personally seen these when working on a fishing boat (Prawn Trawler) In the Gulf of Carpentaria, Northern Australia.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe sub-species I saw were tiny, about 25-30mm across. A first I didn't see them, just noticed that a whole lot of tiny dark paint blotches were appearing on the weather hull. Then I noticed the squid as a secondary observation.
The impression I got was of tiny parachutes gliding on the breeze, not flying. I believe that it's a defensive flight mechanism to evade predators.
There were 100's of them if not 1000's, so there was a definite impression of a ''school" situation, swimming rapidly toward the surface then launching themselves into an environment where heavier predators were unable to follow.
The breeze would have dictated events after that, but would still have kept the school together.
A lasting impression of many tiny parachutes.
استعذ بالله من الشيطان الرجيم
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this*بسم الله الرحمــان الرحيم الحمد لله رب العالمين الرحمــان الرحيم مالك يوم الدين ﺇياك نعبد و ﺇياك نستعين اهدنا الصراط المستقيم صراط الذين أنعمت عليهم غير المغضوب عليهم ولا الضالين* و الشمس و ضحاها والقمر ﺇذا تلاها و النهار ﺇذا جلاها و اليل ﺇذا يغشاها و السماء و ما بناها و الأرض و ما طحاها و نفس و ما سواها فألهمها فجورها و تقواها قد أفلح من زكاها و قد خاب من دساها كذبت ثمود بطغواها ﺇذ انبعث أشقاها فقال لهم رسول الله ناقة الله و سقياها فكذبوه فعقروها فدمدم عليهم ربهم بذنبهم فسواها و لا يخاف عقباها*(السبع مثانى+ترتيب السور حسب النزول)
العلق..القلم..المزمل..المدثر... الفاتحة(السبع مثانى)..المسد...
flightplan (2005 A.C.) movie is some thing you should review.
Because not all we see in our life means that the waiting dream is over once it took place in real life, squid usually life away from small fishes that lives in group as the squid searches to be unique as far as it go along it's life time but for fortune that's is impossible because the at the few time remanning to be a lone their is a communicating tendency that collect them towards each other, so finally the are attracts to each other to end some one of them life journey after that the survival squid seek to a new partener to destroy, The case you witnessed is some rare criteria for a final ground of the best squid that lies in it's ocean surrounding, For your information that means only one thing that a new life should take place as from the squid's sight it made it's job by appearing to you.
you should read el kahf (the cave) in qora'n.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWe are currently sailing down in the Caribbean (St. Lucia and Martinique). When anchored off St. Pierre (Martinique) we thought the local fishermen were annoyed with our position because we found two squid (8" to 10") (inky messes) on our deck one morning as well as the evidence of a third squid on the transom. We thought the locals were throwing them at us because we were interfering with their nets; apparently, the squid did jump / fly out of the water in the night. Thank you for the interesting article.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisFact or Fiction You can now grow a plant that moves and closes its leaves when you Tickle It
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWe probably won't have bird feeders though.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI believe we'll be seeing flying creatures with tentacles because of pollution and radiation... And not because of squid evolution.
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