Humboldt Squid

"There is some quality in man that makes him people the ocean with monsters, and one wonders whether they are there or not." Those words were written by novelist John Steinbeck, and he could well have been talking about the Humboldt squid.

Jumbo Squid

Dosidicus gigas, also known as the jumbo squid, is found in the eastern Pacific from the tip of South America to Alaska. It's a 7-foot-long, 100-pound tubular creature whose lurid, purplish-red coloration and Medusalike array of tentacles are creepy enough to give the most seasoned seafarer nightmares. Mexican fishermen call the squid el diablo rojo -- the red devil -- in deference to the aquatic predator's nasty, hyper-aggressive personality. It's known to attack divers and even fellow members of its own species. This is not the sort of squid you would confuse with those diminutive calamari on your plate in an Italian restaurant. Even so, the ornery giant's flesh is surprisingly mild and tasty when properly soaked in marinade, breaded and fried, which is why the species is a popular commercial catch.

The Humboldt squid gets its name not from some ill-tempered guy named Humboldt, but from the Humboldt Current, a current system along the South American coast. Its lifespan is short -- about a year -- and it spends most of that time chasing things it wants to eat and then eating them, pursuits for which it has been supremely well-designed by evolution.

Fast Swimmer, Hunts in Packs of 1,200

The Humboldt squid is a relatively fast swimmer that can attain a top speed of about 15 miles per hour underwater, and it hunts in enormous packs of as many as 1,200 squid. Getting away from that pack is pretty tough. And then there are those scary tentacles, which are equipped with suckers that are lined with razor-sharp teeth. The squid uses those teeth to pierce the flesh of its prey -- usually lanternfish and mollusks -- so the tentacles can pull the unlucky victim toward the squid's beak. The squid uses its beak to rip the victim into bite-sized pieces for dining pleasure. Not a pretty picture, to be sure. Besides humans, other aquatic animals, like sperm whales, sharks, seals, swordfish and marlin, feed on adult Humboldt squid. And seagulls sometimes prey on juveniles. When it's not hunting closer to the surface, the Humboldt squid spends much of its time at depths of up to 2,300 feet, well beyond the safe range for scuba divers. That's one reason that not much is known about the squid's reproductive patterns. Its eggs have never been observed in nature, but we do know that the squid reproduces just once during its short existence, and that each spring, thousands of the creatures migrate north to the Gulf of California to spawn.

Commercial fishermen stalk the Humbolt squid by using lights as fishing lures, tricking the squid into thinking that it's going after a lanternfish. When caught, Humboldt squid continue to fight for a long time, blasting their antagonists with water and ink.