The giant squid

It may be one of the last mysteries left by the ocean-giant squid.

In the eyes of many people, the giant squid in the deep sea is the ultimate hermit, and it is speculated that they spend most of their life in the darkness of the deep sea. They only surfaced after death or dying, or were found when washed ashore by the tide. But when people found their bodies, they were either dismembered by corruption or bitten to pieces by predators in the ocean. So, it's not surprising that 130 years have passed since this animal was officially confirmed by scientists, and people still know little about it. A world-famous giant squid researcher even quipped that we know much more about dinosaurs than giant squid.

[Edit this paragraph]1Discovery in the 9th century

18731On October 26th, Daniel squyres, theophilus Pique and Pique 12-year-old son Tommy went fishing in Concepcion Bay, Newfoundland. When they arrived at a small bay called Portugal, Pique found a big guy floating on the water not far from the shore. They wanted to have a look, so they rowed over. At first, Pique thought it was the wreckage of a sunken ship and tried to pull it on board. Unexpectedly, this group of big guys suddenly moved, throwing a long tentacle around the 6-meter-long boat and pecking at the hull with it, while the other short limb was firmly leaning against the boat. Then the monster dragged the boat to the bottom of the sea. At this point, Tommy was unusually calm. He immediately jumped up from the steering seat, grabbed an axe, cut off the monster's long beard and short limbs, and finally escaped.

The severed long tentacles were taken to the local amateur naturalist Reverend Moses Harvey. After careful identification, Harvey believes that this tentacle with a length of 5 meters and a length of 1 meter comes from an unknown member of the squid family. When Harvey introduced this tentacle to the outside world, he wrote: "I am now the owner of rare animal samples in the animal kingdom. This sample is the real tentacles of the mysterious octopus (formerly known as giant squid). Naturalists have been arguing about their existence for centuries. Now, I know that I have the key to open this mysterious world, because this key will open a new chapter in natural history. " The next year, Reverend Harvey bought a complete giant squid from a fisherman and showed the monster to the public in his living room.

/kloc-in the 9th century, with the rapid expansion of industry, people are very interested in mysterious animals, including giant squid, and scientists are constantly making new discoveries and research results to share with you. Peter Stansted is a famous naturalist in Denmark. He began to study giant squid from 1849. In order to find a place for this giant squid in nature, he named it "Chief Squid". However, Jay Petes did not publish this name, so it was not until 4 1 year after Jay Petes's death that this name was officially used by the scientific community. This is due to another biologist, Professor Anderson, who finally recognized the giant squid as a new species in the scientific community after analyzing two samples of Reverend Harvey. So the name "chief squid" has been passed down to this day.

[Edit this paragraph] Unsolved mystery

At first, it was not clear to the scientific community whether giant squid belonged to mollusks. If so, slugs, snails and shells will all be counted as close relatives of giant squid. Just different from these three kinds of relatives, squid is a marine animal with a circulatory system composed of three hearts and a well-evolved brain, so it is classified as a cephalopod under the phylum Mollusca. There are also squid, octopus, parrot conch and so on in this class.

There are 650 different species in the squid population, and giant squid is just one of them. They * * * have some biological characteristics:

The body is wrapped in a long, round bag-like covering with two symmetrical fins at the tail;

Compared with the body, the head is very short, but it has two amazing eyes;

There are 8 arms covered with suction cups;

Have a mouth as hard as a parrot's mouth;

There are two long tentacles for eating, and the top of the tentacles is covered with suckers, like a big stick;

There is an inkjet tube extending from the bag-like package.

[Edit this paragraph] Study giant squid.

The study of giant squid is a very annoying problem. At present, there are only more than 250 samples available for study in the world. What is even more frustrating is that these samples are either incomplete or seriously damaged. The delicate body tissues of giant squid are prone to decay, and the chemicals used to preserve them will permanently change the organic structure of these tissues. Because of this, whenever samples are sent to scientists, they only have a few days to study. In general, scientists first make physical measurements on these samples, then summarize the results and compare them with the known characteristics of similar species to find new knowledge. Strangely, there are almost no male and juvenile giant squid in these samples, which is still a mystery.

Scientists are piecing together people's discoveries about giant squid bit by bit in order to give us a complete explanation in the future. From Newfoundland in the North Atlantic to Scotland, and even on the frozen sea in Norway, people living in these areas have been saying that they have seen monsters in the sea. In the South Atlantic, such as the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa, some people also claimed to have seen the bodies of giant squid. On the vast South Pacific Island of New Zealand, the bodies of giant squid can often be seen. In the past few years, local fishermen have caught 23 giant squid in the surrounding waters.

But why haven't people found their habitat yet? Scientists speculate that this is because they may live at a depth of 200- 1000 meters from the sea surface, which is difficult for people to reach. The reason for this speculation is that some fishing boats occasionally catch giant squid when trawling in the deep sea, and the hard beak of giant squid has been found in the abdomen of sperm whales. Sperm whales usually catch food at a depth of 10- 1000 meters below the sea surface, and occasionally catch food at the bottom of the sea.

The autopsy of the giant squid also provided some evidence. It can be inferred that they must be well adapted to the deep-sea environment-there is no inflatable tissue structure in their bodies, so they don't have to worry about being crushed to death when diving to a certain depth, so they can definitely dive deep. We human alveoli and fish swim bladder, these expandable tissues will expand or contract with the change of pressure, so people can't dive too deep in the water.

When giant squid is usually found at sea, it is probably already dead. This is because for giant squid, hemocyanin (a compound that transports oxygen) in its body will become inefficient in warm seawater. When it floats on the sea surface bit by bit, the water temperature will rise bit by bit, and its muscles will slowly relax. It is conceivable that its fate is a little doomed. In addition, the giant squid's big eyes with a diameter of 25 cm evolved in the dark deep sea, and it is impossible to adapt to the bright light on the sea. So when it comes out of the sea, it will be blinded by a lot of light and become fragile. This is why people can't catch or see live giant squid.

[Edit this paragraph] Understanding of giant squid

So far, people's understanding of giant squid is mainly limited to anatomical understanding, which can be summarized as follows:

How big can it grow? According to Guinness World Records, the giant squid seen in Newfoundland in 1888 is the largest squid ever recorded, with a length of 1 8.3m (including tentacles) and a weight of1ton. Scientists have found that the size of the giant squid beak is related to its body size, so it is speculated that the average adult giant squid can grow to 6- 12 meters and weigh 50-300 kilograms.

It is worth noting that the giant squid is not grown up by ordinary squid, but a unique species in the squid family. Generally speaking, their size is determined by the amount of food and the nutritional value of food. Therefore, they eat more, but their metabolism is much slower. Therefore, the joule energy required to support each kilogram of body weight is much less.

[Edit this paragraph] Red alert giant squid

Yuri invented it. Yuri developed the giant squid by using mind control and training squid. It is so powerful that it can overturn a ship and smash all the enemies in the ocean that hinder it. The only nemesis is the dolphins specially trained by the Allies.

Detailed data:

Giant squid price 1000

Life 200 Armor: Light Armor Vision 5 Speed 8

Veteran enhancement: life enhancement, damage enhancement, attack interval reduction, vision enhancement and speed improvement.

Elite enhancement: life enhancement, damage enhancement and attack interval reduction.

Main weapon [SquidGrab] damage 15 (parasitism) attack interval 99 (note: the continuous damage of octopus after being caught is secondary weapon) range 1.5 (navy) damage to crawling infantry 100%.

The damage to armor is 100%, 100%, 100%, 100%, 100%.

Sub-weapon [SquidPunch] damage 100 attack interval 32 range 1.83 (dolphin, thunder, except) does 70% damage to crawling infantry.

The killing radius is 0.5, and the farthest damage ratio is 50% (amphibious unit outside the landing craft).

The damage to armor is 100%, 100%, 100%, 70%, 70%, 35%, 75%, 40%, 20%, 80%, 100%.

Elite main weapon [SquidGrabE] damage 40 (parasitic) attack interval 99 (note: the sustained damage of octopus after being captured is secondary weapon) range 1.5 (navy) damage ratio to crawling infantry 100%.

The damage to armor is 100%, 100%, 100%, 100%, 100%.

Elite sub-weapon [SquidPunchE] does 200 damage, with an attack interval of 32, and the range of 1.83 (except dolphins and thunder) does 70% damage to crawling infantry.

The killing radius is 0.5, and the farthest damage ratio is 50% (amphibious unit outside the landing craft).

The damage to armor is 100%, 100%, 100%, 70%, 70%, 35%, 75%, 40%, 20%, 80%, 100%.

Special ability: 1, submarine detection: detect and calibrate submarines within 8 grids.

2. Underwater sports: keep diving without attacking land and being attacked.

3. Anti-parasitism: Free from parasitic attacks.

4, automatic repair: can automatically restore life after injury, 5 times every 75 times.

[Edit this paragraph] Catch giant squid in Antarctic waters

On February 22, 2007, New Zealand officials announced that a fishing boat had caught perhaps the largest giant squid known in the world in the Ross Sea, Antarctica. The scientific name is "King Sour Squid". Its eyes are as big as a dinner plate, its mouth is the largest of all known squid, and there is a rotatable hook on its tentacles. The weight of this new sample is estimated at 450kg.

This squid in king soup was picked up by biting a hooked Merlot, and it took the crew two hours to get it out of the sea. It was frozen and kept in a huge freezer under the deck. Its body was then transported to the University of Auckland for scientific analysis by scientists. "People don't even know how big it will grow or how long it will live," New Zealand Fisheries Minister Anders said in a statement. This deep-sea species was first discovered by humans in 1925, and its two touching feet were found in the stomach of a sperm whale. Andel said that this new sample may be the first complete male squid. Squid expert Osha told local media: "I can assure you that this will arouse strong interest."

[Edit this paragraph] An 8-meter-long giant squid was washed up on the beach in Australia.

On July 10, 2007, a giant squid with a length of 8 meters and a weight of 250 kilograms was found on the beach in southern Australia. Scientists say that this can provide people with important clues about the living habits and habitats of this mysterious animal. This dead squid was found on the beach on the west coast of Tasmania. According to biologists, it is 3 feet (65,438+0 meters) wide at its widest point and 26 feet (8 meters) long from the top of the body to the bottom. It may live longer because its two tentacles have been seriously damaged. It weighs 250 kilograms. Smith, a zoologist who studies invertebrates in Tasmania Museum, said, "This is really a monster." .

In 2002, a giant squid with similar scars was washed up on the beach in Tasmania. Scientists said at the time that these scars may have been left during mating, which means that giant squid gave birth nearby. Scientists did not disclose the cause of death of the giant squid, but they took tissue samples for DNA and other tests, which may make people know new knowledge about this animal living in the depths of the dark ocean. People first took pictures of giant squid off the coast of Japan in 2004, and they caught giant squid off the coast of Japan in 2005.