November 8, 2000

1 min read

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Supersized Squid

By Kate Wong

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Image: Ocean Planet exhibit/Smithsonian Natural History

What weighs 275 pounds, glows in the dark and has arms lined with lethal hooks? Apparently, a squid that was captured recently by fishermen off the coast of northern Spain. Though it might seem like science fiction, the creature belongs to a previously known species of squid called Taningia danae. The new specimen, however, dwarfs the former record-holder, which weighed in at a mere 140 pounds.

Unlike most squid, Taningia does not have two long feeding tentacles. But on the tips of two of its eight arms, it sports large light-producing organs called photophores. The beast apparently uses them to emit flashes of bright blue-green light when threatened. This light could prove especially startling in the dark depths--up to 1,000 meters--at which Taningia is thought to live. Terrifying though it may be to many ocean-dwelling creatures, the giant strobing squid is no match for the sperm whale, which seems to have a taste for Taningia. Indeed, most of the known specimens of Taningia have been retrieved from sperm whale stomachs.

Kate Wong is an award-winning science writer and senior editor for features at Scientific American, where she has focused on evolution, ecology, anthropology, archaeology, paleontology and animal behavior. She is fascinated by human origins, which she has covered for nearly 30 years. Recently she has become obsessed with birds. Her reporting has taken her to caves in France and Croatia that Neandertals once called home to the shores of Kenya’s Lake Turkana in search of the oldest stone tools in the world, as well as to Madagascar on an expedition to unearth ancient mammals and dinosaurs, the icy waters of Antarctica, where humpback whales feast on krill, and a “Big Day” race around the state of Connecticut to find as many bird species as possible in 24 hours. Wong is co-author, with Donald Johanson, of Lucy’s Legacy: The Quest for Human Origins. She holds a bachelor of science degree in biological anthropology and zoology from the University of Michigan. Follow her on Bluesky @katewong.bsky.social

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