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Cold Promotes Big Yet another factor that could be driving deep-sea gigantism is temperature. When the fishermen caught the colossal squid, it was eating a Patagonian toothfish well over 3,000 feet below the surface of the water in Antarctica. Virtually zero sunlight penetrates at such depths, so conditions can be very dark and cold, unless there are thermal vents spewing out heated water nearby on the seafloor. Based on a recent study conducted by University of California at San Diego biologists, it is likely the colossal squid is a cold water species whose size may be explained, at least in part, by the frigid temperatures. Kaustuv Roy, who led the UC research, and his team looked at populations of the deep-sea crustacean Poseidonamicus from 40 million years ago to 900,000 years ago. As temperatures dropped over the years, the otherwise diminutive crustaceans grew ever larger. "These data show a very nice correlation between temperature and body size," he said, explaining that bigger animals have a smaller surface to volume ratio. They can then more effectively conserve body heat in cold environments. Expect Even Bigger Squid Despite the New Zealand squid's impressive size, Blaauw thinks "it wasn't out of average where length is concerned." The researchers can't even tell how old the squid was when it was caught, so the now-defrosted colossus could be a juvenile. Squid beaks found in the stomachs of sperm whales have actually dwarfed the beak on the museum specimen, suggesting that even more colossal colossal squids lurk in the cold, dark deep. As Blaauw said, "Who knows what is still out there…"
Jennifer Viegas' blog: Born Animal |
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