Comments

  1. Artor says

    Yes, it looks lethargic and it’s skin is peeling off in sheets, but imagine being the diver swimming within reach of those tentacles. No thank you!

  3. says

    IIRC octopi and squids only live a few years. That one may be dying of old age. Still if I were a diver that thing would still scare the crap out of me.

  4. Artor says

    @shermanj
    The relatively shallow-dwelling squid and octopuses live short lives, but we just don’t know much about the lifecycle of the deepwater krakens like this. But the fact that it’s at the surface implies some severe internal decompression trauma.

  5. says

    I’ve seen octopus which don’t live much more than a year kept in aquariums or in the wild. The loss of colour and peeling skin are definite signs that the poor animal is on its last tentacles.

  6. StevoR says

    A lot of very deep water oceanic creatures are very long-lived and slow growing from what I gather. So I googled and apparently to my surprise it is only 5 years or so! See :

    https://ocean.si.edu/ocean-life/invertebrates/giant-squid#:~:text=Evidence%20from%20statoliths%20(a%20small,in%20just%20a%20few%20years!

    Unlike mammals, including people, and many fish species, cephalopods grow very quickly and die after a short life. Evidence from statoliths (a small mineralized mass that helps squid balance), which accumulate “growth rings” and can be used to measure age, suggests that giant squid live no more than five years — which means each squid must grow incredibly quickly to reach 30 feet in just a few years! To grow at such a rate, giant squid must live in areas of the ocean where there is an abundant supply of food to provide enough energy.

    If asked I’d have guess much longer maybe 50 or even possibly hundreds of years like the Greenland Shark.. but seems not.

    Also likewise, Artor think they’d be very vulnerable to decompression sickness having evolved too cope with the pressures I fear this magnificent individual is probly dying. Sad squid indeed.Imagine its last moments leaving the depths and literally heading for the light…

  7. daved says

    Giant squid don’t have to spend all their time in the depths. They have been known to come to the surface voluntarily and even hunt there.