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August 31, 2010

'Man-Eating Giant Squid'?

From the "You've got to be kidding" department, via The Express (and Jonah Goldberg), there's this story of giant, man-eating squid gobbling up fish by the tons. As for the supposed cause - you guessed it - "climate change" (a claim that's disputed by an astute commenter on the Express piece that points out that the Humboldt squid is a cold water critter and that the blame is more likely global cooling):

DEADLY sea monsters have woken from the deep to cause carnage among some of the world's richest fishing grounds.

Millions of killer giant squid are not only devouring vast amounts of fish they have even started attacking humans.

Two Mexican fishermen were recently dragged from their boats and chewed so badly that their bodies could not be identified even by their own families.

No wonder the giant squid are called "diablos rojos" - red devils.

Monster squid are the stuff of legend. But for fishermen and marine biologists along 10,000 miles of coast from Chile to Alaska, the myth has become reality.

And their story is told this week in a Channel Five documentary.

Since 2002, Humboldt giant squid, named after the 18th century German explorer, have been spreading their tentacles to deplete fishing stocks by moving from their traditional tropical hunting grounds off Mexico and laying claim to a vast sweep of the Pacific.

Hunting in 1,000-strong packs the giant squid can out-swim and out-think fish. Scientists believe they coordinate attacks by using pigment cells to communicate.

A single female is believed to be able to lay 30 million eggs, each one capable of becoming a giant killing machine.

Marine biologists wear chain-mail to protect themselves from creatures that can measure 8ft, weigh 100lb and carry an armoury of more than 40,000 fearsome teeth along two "attack" tentacles.

The creatures have another eight "legs" for grasping and swimming and can reach speeds of more than 15mph.

[...] Experts believe they may be taking advantage of warmer waters due to climate change. The threat to fisheries and marine ecosystems is explained in the documentary.

Be sure to read the comments at the Express article. The first two help put this story in perspective and suggest that the author of the Express piece (the "environmental editor") just might be doing a bit of "fishing" of his own.

Related: Scientific American places the blame on ocean "dead zones."

Posted by Richard at August 31, 2010 8:15 AM

• 'Man-Eating Giant Squid'? - Aug 31, 2010