Squid king is the largest invertebrate in the world, with Cephalopoda, which lives in the deep waters of the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Ocean. It is about 20 meters long and weighs about 2-3 tons. * * * has 10 arms. King squid, known as the giant of the sea, is different from octopus. It is a fierce carnivore, swims very fast, feeds on fish and invertebrates, and can fight with giant whales. Because this animal has been living in the deep sea, it is difficult to catch, and people know little about it.
Looking for the king squid
Odeco and Platti are famous marine biologists in Portugal. They are not only working partners, but also loving couples in life. They spend at least half of the year on the ocean research ship. The couple have written a lot of valuable academic papers together and achieved fruitful research results.
At the beginning of 2005, Odeco and Prati received an invitation from a marine life museum in Portugal, hoping that they could help to capture a squid at least over 12 meters long and put it in the museum for people to visit. The museum was not only willing to provide huge funds for this capture, but also promised that the couple could conduct scientific research on the captured squid specimens at any time. In early March, a fishing team of nine people went out to sea on a scientific research ship from the port of Lisbon.
Odko and Prati are no strangers to the king squid. So far, the largest king squid discovered by human beings is 22 meters long and weighs 3 tons. Odko and Prati are determined to break this world record and capture a bigger king squid. They are not only doing this for considerable bonuses, but also hoping to arouse people's attention and protection of this exotic marine animal.
It is said that during World War II, a destroyer weighing thousands of tons in the US Navy suddenly found its speed strangely slowed down during the night flight. When it was sent to the dock for repair, it was discovered that the propeller had been bitten through dozens of holes by the sharp teeth of the king squid. On August 8, 2003 1 month/KLOC-0, a French crew member encountered a giant squid in the Jules Fern Round-the-World Sailing Grand Prix held in Portugal. It was tightly clamped on the hull of the ship, and its tentacles were thicker than human legs. One crossed the porthole, and the other two entangled the rudder, so the ship could not move. But in the end, it released its tentacles and returned to the sea, letting the crew live.
The sea area visited by Odko and Prati is located in the high seas of the Atlantic Ocean, with an average depth of more than 2,000 meters, which is an ideal habitat for the king squid. Not long ago, some fishermen found traces of this marine behemoth nearby. However, the scientific research ship has been cruising in this sea area for more than a week. According to the research and judgment made by Odko and Pilates on ocean currents, seawater temperature and the distribution of marine life, many baits have been cast, but the king squid has still not been found ...
On March 15, the weather was fine, the visibility was high, and the wind on the sea was weak. Nasanka, the captain of the scientific research ship, has made up his mind that if he still finds nothing today, he will give up the plan to catch the king squid and set off for home.
At noon that day, the crew had just had lunch when the ship suddenly shook. Did it hit the rocks? Everyone rushed to the deck to see it, but there was no sign of the ship hitting the rocks. So, what kind of force makes the scientific research ship vibrate so violently? Odko was pleasantly surprised. Did the trawl catch the king squid? According to the shaking degree of the scientific research ship, if the squid is really caught, then the length of this marine behemoth is at least 15 meters.
A sailor ran to the side of the ship to check. As soon as he poked his head out, a thick tentacle suddenly came out of the sea and swept him into the water. He only had time to let out a scream and disappeared. Soon, several tentacles climbed on the side of the ship, and the whole scientific research ship bumped. The crew realized that the trawl did catch the king squid, but what surprised everyone was that since the king squid was caught in the net, how could it attack humans? You know, this kind of net is specially made for catching large marine animals. It is extremely strong, and it can't be easily cut with ordinary knives, and it can't be burned with fire at once.
The terrible tentacles of the king squid constantly swept all objects near the ship's rail, taking them down to the sea and stirring up waves.
In order to keep the integrity of the specimen, the crew did not dare to cut it with a knife or shoot it, so they could only hit those tentacles with sticks to make them shrink back in pain. Several crew members were accidentally entangled by the tentacles of the king squid, and when other crew members finally rescued them, those crew members who had been attacked by the king squid with suction cups had already absorbed pieces of palm-sized meat, revealing bloody wounds, and the places where the tentacles were entangled were also scarred and horrible. While fighting with the king squid, Odko and Prati took real and precious shots of this scene with a video camera, so as to show the world the magic of this ferocious marine behemoth in the future.
Life and death struggle under the sea
After the tentacles of the king squid clinging to the ship's rail were retracted, Captain Nasanka quickly ordered the crew to start the machine and pull the trawl up. When the trawl was pulled to the surface of the water, it was discovered that there was a king squid with a stride of 20 meters. It was still struggling. The trawl with a steel wire had been bitten out of several holes by it, and those tentacles were sticking out of the holes. However, its huge body weighing several tons could not be drilled out of the holes.
At this moment, the scientific research ship was suddenly shocked again, but this time it was really an accident. Due to the misoperation in panic, the ship accidentally ran aground on a coral reef. What's more, the mechanical device that twisted the trawl also broke down, and it was simply unrealistic to pull the struggling squid weighing at least 2 tons onto the boat by hand. Everyone had to watch the trawl slowly submerged in the sea.
Everyone knows that all their efforts and sweat these days will be in vain if they can't pull the captured king squid onto the boat in time. Judging from the turbulence of the research ship, the king squid is still struggling in the trawl. It has bitten several holes. If it continues to struggle like this, it will run away sooner or later. Remedial measures must be taken decisively. It is not realistic to capture the live king squid now, so the next best thing is to stun the king squid with an anesthetic gun, so that they can drag it onto the boat after the mechanical device for dragging the trawl is repaired. But who will be sent to subdue the king squid underwater?
Odko and Pilates volunteered to come forward. They are excellent divers and are familiar with the habits of the king squid. In case of any accident, it is better to deal with them. Captain Nasanka shook hands with the couple tightly, and all the rest of the crew on the scientific research ship came forward to shake hands with them one by one, and their eyes were full of admiration, because as we all know, the submarine currents are unpredictable and the situation is very complicated, and the dying king squid may give a fatal blow at any time, so it is extremely dangerous to subdue it underwater. If you are not careful, you may die at the bottom of the sea.
Odko and Pilates put on diving suits and diving equipment and went down to the sea. Before diving, the couple gave a tight hug, and they made the worst plan, because this might be their last close hug. In fact, before every dangerous operation at sea, the couple have to have such a hug and kiss, which seems to be a habit of showing their love in their marriage for nearly 10 years.
The sun is shining on the sea, but the visibility in the sea is not good. It is dark around 10 meter. Odko and Prati can only distinguish the surrounding objects with the help of the periscope lights on their helmets. From time to time, all kinds of beautiful fish swim through the halo, and colorful corals stand around like trees. If it is not for a dangerous task, they are very happy to enjoy the beautiful underwater world. The trawl depth on the scientific research ship is about 60 meters underwater. Soon, they followed the churning sea water to find the king squid bound by the trawl. At this time, they saw that it was a mother king squid. At this moment, it seems to have been exhausted, struggling less violently, curled up in a ball and lying in the trawl, only occasionally stretching its tentacles, causing the fish around to flee rapidly.
Everything seems to be going smoothly, and Odko and Pilates raise their anesthetic guns left and right to aim. At this moment, Pilates felt that her body was hit hard by something. She suddenly lost her center of gravity and the anesthetic gun fell to the unfathomable bottom of the sea. When she looked back, she was frightened out of her wits. A king squid, much bigger than the one caught in the trawl net, was behind her, staring at her fierce eyes and reaching out to her with ferocious tentacles. Odko also found the danger facing Prati. He swam quickly and shot at the king squid quickly, but unfortunately, he missed in his panic. Odko adjusted his posture and raised his gun at the king squid again, but a sudden underwater undercurrent swept him aside and the anesthetic shot missed again.
At this time, Pilates has been wrapped around the waist by a tentacle of the king squid, and the power of the tentacle is so great that Pilates can't earn it. Odko saw that the king squid and Pilates were intertwined, so he dared not shoot at random, so he swam over and pulled out the diving dagger used to prevent sharks and stabbed the tentacles entangled in Pilates. The king squid released one of the stabbed tentacles in pain, but the other tentacle waved over again. Pilates ducked, pulled out the diving dagger he was carrying, and cut it with a backhand. This tentacle of the king squid was also cut, and a large piece of blue blood flowed out (Note: There was no blood in the king squid) But the king squid has a * * * tentacle 10 on its head. After some tentacles are injured, it can continue to attack with the remaining tentacle, and there are hundreds of terrible suckers on the tentacle. Once it is adsorbed on the limbs of animals and people, it can absorb a large piece of meat on it.
Odko's anesthetic gun was knocked down by the tentacles of the king squid in a panic. In order to avoid being entangled in the tentacles of the king squid, Odko and Pilates kept waving diving daggers. Because of the high pressure of the sea and their heavy diving suits, they were soon exhausted. At this time, the female king squid caught in the trawl net was excited when she saw her companion coming to save her. She struggled to stretch out her tentacles from the hole in the trawl, ready to give a fatal blow to Odko and Pilates who were in a panic around her.
A deep-sea love song
Odko and Pilates dodged around and fought hard. Now they had to give up their original plan and find a way to escape, but in order to avoid fatal decompression sickness, they couldn't rise quickly, while the king squid ran after them, as if they would never stop until they were torn apart. In a panic, Pilates swam to a nearby coral cave. The hole outside the coral cave was relatively large, just allowing one person to pass through, but the inside became narrower and narrower, and it was impossible to enter at all. Pilates entered the cave backwards. As soon as she entered, the diving bottle she was carrying got stuck in the narrow rock wall of the cave, and her whole body suddenly couldn't move.
It's less than five meters from the place where Pilates was stuck to the entrance of the cave, and the tentacle more than ten meters long of the king squid can reach in and hang her. Odko stretched out his hand to Laprati, but he didn't pull it, and he didn't dare to use too much force, fearing to tear off the oxygen tank. Odko lingered at the mouth of the cave, worried. Pratt knows that she can't escape, and if Odko doesn't escape, the two of them are likely to end up together. Prati gestured to Odko to leave her alone and run for her life, but Odko didn't seem to see it. She continued to hold her carefully and guard her, and gestured that she would rather die together than run for her life alone. Pilates' eyes are wet.
Seeing the king squid approaching step by step, Odko and Prati were desperate, but just then, they saw the king squid suddenly turn around and looked intently again. It turned out to be a huge sperm whale swimming over. Sperm whales like to eat king squid, but when they meet, there is often a battle of life and death. The huge fish head of the sperm whale is a super missile, which pounces on the female king squid in the trawl. The maw has been opened. Both Odko and Prati know that the teeth of the sperm whale are strong enough to tear the trawl into pieces together with the female king squid in the net. However, the male king squid desperately blocked the sperm whale's attack. Its tentacles and suction cups were firmly entangled in the sperm whale's head, and the sperm whale struggled to bite the tail of the king squid. Turbid waves are rolling, and the scene is spectacular. The tentacles of the king squid have been bitten off several times, and the sperm whale's body is also black and blue, and blood is pouring out from its wound, staining the surrounding sea water.
After more than 20 minutes, the sperm whale finally gained the upper hand, and its huge tail fin knocked the male king squid dizzy. However, the female king squid trapped in the trawl did not allow the sperm whale to hurt her partner. She struggled to attack the enemy with her tentacles, and the sperm whale was angered and turned around and pounced on it. But the male king squid recovered a little, endured the pain and continued to attack the sperm whale. In this way, sperm whales fought bloody battles in the repeated resistance of two king squid, and they couldn't get much cheaper at once. While watching the bloody battle between the king squid and the sperm whale, Odko tried his best to help Pilate escape. As they all know, there is an ink sac at the end of the rectum in the body of the king squid. When it escapes, it can continuously spray ink for five or six times, blackening the seawater within hundreds of meters, which makes the opponent frightened and confused. This ink contains anesthetic, which can anesthetize the opponent's sense of smell. If the male king squid adopts this trick, it can escape alone, but in order to rescue its partner, it is willing to stay here and insist on fighting for its life.
At the height of the bloody battle between the king squid and the sperm whale, Odko finally rescued Prati, and they slowly floated up. When they swam to the top of the trawl, Prati suddenly ventured close, took out a diving dagger and cut several ropes of the trawl hard. Odko immediately realized what Prati was going to do, and he was on the alert with a diving dagger in his hand to prevent the female king squid in the trawl from making room for a sneak attack. Fortunately, the female king squid was too busy parrying sperm whales to attack them. Before the female king squid got out of the trawl, Odko and Prati floated to the surface, and the people on the research ship quickly pulled them up.
Suddenly, the research ship obviously felt that the trawl at the bottom of the ship was silent. When they tried to pull it manually, they easily pulled the trawl onto the ship, and there was no figure of the king squid in the net. At this moment, Odko and Pilates also saw a piece of black ink on the sea. They knew that it was the two king squid releasing their escape weapons. Despite the pain and fatigue, Odeco and Pilates stood silently in the bow, praying in their hearts that the ocean lovers who are in love with each other can escape from the mouth of the sperm whale ... Although this fishing left great regret, Odeco and Pilates felt that they also had a great gain worthy of scientific research, that is, they found that those seemingly inferior animals actually had the same care and love as humans!