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View Full Version : Giant Squid Invade California Coast



BajaMike
07-25-2007, 03:32 PM
MONTEREY, Calif. — Jumbo squid that can grow up to 7 feet long and weigh more than 110 pounds are invading central California waters and preying on local anchovy, hake and other commercial fish populations, according to a study published Tuesday.:eek:
http://www.foxnews.com/images/301657/0_61_giant_squids.jpg
An aggressive predator, the Humboldt squid — or Dosidicus gigas — can change its eating habits to consume the food supply favored by tuna and sharks, its closest competitors, according to an article published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences journal.
"Having a new, voracious predator set up shop here in California may be yet another thing for fishermen to compete with," said the study's co-author, Stanford University researcher Louis Zeidberg. "That said, if a squid saw a human they would jet the other way."
The jumbo squid used to be found only in the Pacific Ocean's warmest stretches near the equator. In the last 16 years, it has expanded its territory throughout California waters, and squid have even been found in the icy waters off Alaska, Zeidberg said.
Zeidberg's co-author, Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute senior scientist Bruce Robison, first spotted the jumbo squid here in 1997, when one swam past the lens of a camera mounted on a submersible thousands of feet below the ocean's surface.
More were observed through 1999, but the squid weren't seen again locally until the fall of 2002. Since their return, scientists have noted a corresponding drop in the population of Pacific hake, a whitefish the squid feeds on that is often used in fish sticks, Zeidberg said.
"As they've come and gone, the hake have dropped off," Zeidberg said. "We're just beginning to figure out how the pieces fit together, but this is most likely going to shake things up."
Before the 1970s, the giant squid were typically found in the Eastern Pacific, and in coastal waters spanning from Peru to Costa Rica.
But as the populations of its natural predators — large tuna, sharks and swordfish — declined because of fishing, the squid moved northward and started eating different species that thrive in colder waters.
Local marine mammals needn't worry about the squid's arrival since they're higher up on the food chain, but lanternfish, krill, anchovies and rockfish are all fair game, Zeidberg said.
A fishermen's organization said Tuesday they were monitoring the squid's impact on commercial fisheries.
"In years of high upwellings, when the ocean is just bountiful, it probably wouldn't do anything," Zeke Grader, the executive director of the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen's Associations.
"But in bad years it could be a problem to have a new predator competing at the top of the food chain."
:idea:

AZJD
07-25-2007, 04:26 PM
That's nothin! Our squid here at Lake Pleasant took out a cage fighter, and a twin engine aircraft!:D :D :jawdrop:

BajaMike
07-26-2007, 10:17 AM
That's nothin! Our squid here at Lake Pleasant took out a cage fighter, and a twin engine aircraft!:D :D :jawdrop:
:confused: :eek: :D

HM
07-26-2007, 10:48 AM
Chop that chit up into bait and chum and you won't be fishing...you will be catching. :D

dunaholic
07-26-2007, 11:09 AM
Frickin Media cracks me up. "GIANT MAN EATING SQUID INVADE CALIFORNIA" "STORY AT 11". I have caught those on sport boats before. That's some good Calamari right there.

YeLLowBoaT
07-26-2007, 11:17 AM
just think of the size of calmari rings you get out of one of those.
Squid does work wonders as bait.

455Rocket
07-26-2007, 11:30 AM
Caught one of those damn things last Monday on a Mexico trip... they fight like hell!

GoCiggie31
07-26-2007, 11:31 AM
Frickin Media cracks me up. "GIANT MAN EATING SQUID INVADE CALIFORNIA" "STORY AT 11". ....
just wait til CNN gets ahold of this pic captured off of Santa Cruz coast....:D :D :D
http://www.***boat.com/image_center/data/500/starfush.jpg

spectratoad
07-26-2007, 11:34 AM
It's gotta be GW's fault.:D

GoCiggie31
07-26-2007, 11:37 AM
It's gotta be GW's fault.:D
ha ha ha
...I am waiting for the 'global warming' koolaid drinkers to chime in on this as well....
or was it the 'global cooling' of the 70's that caused this:D :D :D

spectratoad
07-26-2007, 11:39 AM
ha ha ha
...I am waiting for the 'global warming' koolaid drinkers to chime in on this as well....
or was it the 'global cooling' of the 70's that caused this:D :D :D
But wasn't the 70's when all the lead burning, metal constructed vehicles were crowding the roads????

GoCiggie31
07-26-2007, 11:58 AM
But wasn't the 70's when all the lead burning, metal constructed vehicles were crowding the roads????
i believe quite a few good things came out of chasing enviromental awareness in the 70's. Heck, I remember getting ready for college in 71 and the media was saying that we will have sub-freezing by year 2000 because of all the polution my internal combustion engine was causing. I believe there is (much) more work to do to control waste and damage to the earth.
Ya gotta wonder if the natural cooling and heating of the globe has anything to do with this all this 'global warming' cycle. The hype by certain politicians advancing a specific agenda for their profits is a big concern as well.:D