Mesonychoteuthis Hamiltoni

Recently I discovered something called the Home University Roscommon Leitrim. HURL events consist of members of the public giving a lecture on anything they know about. You get ten minutes to talk about the subject of your enthusiasm. The basic idea is that people come together for some relaxed learning. “Soft knowledge” one member called it. Last week in Cootehall village, Co. Roscommon they had an event. I was one of the speakers and I think my show went down well. There were a few laughs even though we were discussing a real monster.


The Colossal Squid, copyright; www.deepseaphotography.com

Mesonychoteuthis Hamiltoni, or the Colossal Squid, is a creature we knew about for fifty years before one was caught or even seen by humans. We knew they existed because parts of tentacles were occasionally washed up on shore or found in the stomachs of dead whales. The Colossal Squid’s tentacles are very distinctive, they bristle with weapons. Little teeth in the suckers and revolving hooks on the ends of its tentacles mean that once a Colossal Squid has grabbed you, you stay grabbed. The biggest Colossal Squid ever caught was 8 metres long but it is reckoned they can grow to twice that.



This is hard for us landlubbers to grasp just how alien this life-forms is. Its brain is the shape of a donut. Its throat passes through the hole in the middle. Anything it eats has to be broken into small pieces before they swallow it, otherwise it can give itself brain damage. It mouth is a beak, like a parrot’s beak. Its blood is not red, its blood is blue. It has three hearts.

The Colossal Squid’s eyes can be the size of beach balls. These are the biggest eyes in the world and possibly the biggest eyes that ever evolved on this planet. About 80% of its brain is dedicated to its optics. That goes to show how important vision is to the Colossal Squid. Most species of squid have their eyes on the sides of their heads so they can watch all around them. This proves a certain wariness, most squid watch their backs. But the Colossal Squid’s eyes are positioned forwards on its head. Having eyes to the front of the head is a characteristic of predators. In this way Colossal Squids are like wolves, like hawks, like humans. It is a hunter.



Many scientists and researchers agree that squid, of all types, are both getting physically bigger and getting bigger in numbers. Dr George Jackson of Tasmania's Institute of Antarctic and Southern Ocean Studies thinks large squid are the new "big players of the ocean." Many of their natural competitors and enemies have been overfished, by us, and this has triggered a population explosion. Furthermore global warming has warmed the ocean to temperatures that suit them better. Squid are now growing and breeding quicker. "You just heat them up a little bit and everything just ticks over that much faster,” says Jackson.

So the Colossal Squid is big, it is nasty and it is mysterious. Those things alone would qualify the creature for true monster of the deep status. But look at Jackson’s research and we can add another issue, they’re coming. As I told the audience at the HURL event, be afraid. They laughed at that, it was nervous laughter though.

Links:
HURL's blog.
More information on the Colossal Squid at the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa.