Teacher Resource: All You Ever Wanted To Know About

Giant Squid

A Powerful Cephalopod Introduction

What group of animals can change color faster than a chameleon plus change texture and body shape, has three hearts pumping blue blood, is jet powered, has members in all oceans of the world - from the tropics to the poles - the intertidal to the abyss, has inspired legends and stories since recorded history, is thought to be the most intelligent of invertebrates and yet is related to animals such as clams and oysters, has members that can squeeze through the tiniest of cracks, is related to garden slugs yet has eyes and other senses that rival our own, and can make their own 'smoke screen' or 'decoys' out of ink?

Cephalopods, the group in which scientists classify octopuses, squid, cuttlefish and nautiluses can do all these things and more.

Website to try: http://is.dal.ca/~ceph/TCP/index.html - a good way to introduce the phylum that both octopus and squid belong to

Interesting Facts

Websites to try: http://unmuseum.mus.pa.us/squid.htm

Giant Squid have been seen in battle with adult whales too. In 1965, a Soviet whaler watched a battle between a squid and a 40 ton sperm whale. In this case neither were victorious. The strangled whale was found floating in the sea with the squid's tentacles wrapped around the whale's throat. The squid's severed head was found in the whale's stomach.

Did you know that squid will suffocate in warm water? Check out why at the above website.

Other Interesting Facts

Website to try: http://seawifs.gsfc.nasa.gov/squid.html - here you can find everything that squid eat, how they move, and how they defend themselves.

Websites to try: http://www.amnh.org/science/biodiversity/giant_squid/

Squid Recipes

Website to try: http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~mjw/recipes/seafood/squid-coll.html - learn how to make squid stuffed with spinach and cheese or even a squid salad

Squid Adventures

Website to try: http://www.nationalgeographic.com/features/97/kaikoura/

The mission: Explore the deep-sea world of New Zealand’s Kaikoura Canyon. This rich ecosystem is home to one of the sea’s last great mysteries—the giant squid, a creature never yet observed in its habitat. Relive the expition!

Website to try: http://www.enn.com/enn-news-archive/1997/01/012997/01299705.asp

Great Squid Pictures

Website to try: http://2kj.com/friday/giant_squid.html - will show all the different members of the squid family and some distant relatives

Exciting Squid Legends

Website to try: http://www.museums.org.za/sam/muse/9709.htm - great stories of the mythic creatures known as giant squid.