Photos show a rare, 14-foot giant squid that washed ashore in South Africa

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Aylin WoodwardJun 25, 2020, 04:22 IST
Photos show a rare, 14-foot giant squid that washed ashore in South Africa

A rare giant squid specimen washed up on Golden Mile Beach in Brittania Bay on June 7, 2020.Adéle Grosse © Iziko Museums of South Africa

  • Scientists rarely capture giant squid on camera, so much of what we know about them comes from studying carcasses that wash ashore.
  • A rare, nearly intact giant squid washed up in Britannia Bay, South Africa on June 7.
  • Researchers from the Iziko Museums of South Africa in Cape Town collected and froze the nearly 14-foot creature. They will add it to the museum's wet collection after sampling its DNA.
  • Carcasses like these help scientists unravel the mysteries of how giant squids hunt and eat.

Thousands of feet under the waves, in the darkest parts of the ocean, carnivorous giant squids hunt with long, grasping tentacles, chomping on prey with ferocious beaks.

Because the squids almost never leave those crushing depths, scientists know very little about them. That's part of the reason the mysterious creatures have inspired tales of the kraken: a legendary sea monster that attacks ships and pulls them underwater.

Most of what we know about the giant squid comes from carcasses that wash ashore, or from digested squid appendages found in sperm-whale stomachs (the squid's main predator).

Often these remains are piecemeal, so researchers don't have much to study. But on June 7, a nearly intact giant squid washed ashore in South Africa, offering biologists a golden opportunity to glean further insights into the creatures' anatomy and sample some rare DNA.

Researchers at the Iziko Museums of South Africa collected the nearly 14-foot-long squid and brought it back to the museum for preservation.

These photos from that effort reveal the creature's size and impressive tentacles.

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Vacationers Adéle Grosse and her husband, who were visiting Britannia Bay from Cape Town, found the giant squid on June 7, while walking on Golden Mile Beach.

Vacationers Adéle Grosse and her husband, who were visiting Britannia Bay from Cape Town, found the giant squid on June 7, while walking on Golden Mile Beach.
A giant squid washed up on Golden Mile Beach in Brittania Bay on June 7, 2020. Adéle Grosse © Iziko Museums of South Africa

When they found the creature, it was already dead.

"We looked for bite marks or injuries and could not really find anything," Grosse told Live Science.

Another beachgoer, Richard Davies, said he captured footage of the squid's dying breaths after he was unable to roll it back into the ocean.

"It was still pumping out ink and I touched one of its tentacles, which sucked onto my hand, and I actually had to use some force to remove it," he told local news outlet News24.

After posting photos to her social media, Grosse got in touch with Wayne Florence at the Iziko Museums. Museum researchers then collected the squid and transported it to Cape Town.

After posting photos to her social media, Grosse got in touch with Wayne Florence at the Iziko Museums. Museum researchers then collected the squid and transported it to Cape Town.
Dr. Wayne Florence, curator of Iziko Museums of South Africa's marine invertebrate collection (right) and Albe Bosman, the museum's collections manager (left) prepare the giant squid for freezing. Dr. Toufiek Samaai © Iziko Museums of South Africa

Florence and his colleagues collected the creature's DNA and are temporarily storing it at minus 22 degrees Fahrenheit in a walk-in freezer facility.

Once the country's coronavirus lockdown ends, they plan to preserve the squid long-term in a giant stainless steel tank filled with ethanol.

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This is the 20th squid to join the museum's wet collection. It's unusual for the animals to get stranded on shore like this, Florence said.

This is the 20th squid to join the museum's wet collection. It's unusual for the animals to get stranded on shore like this, Florence said.
Iziko Museums of South Africa staff members Albe Bosman and Toufiek Samaai prepare the giant squid for freezing. Dr. Wayne Florence © Iziko Museums of South Africa

"It's rare. In South Africa, we have had less than a handful of strandings. Surprisingly, despite our museum being almost 200 years old, our earliest stranded giant squid specimen is from 1972," he told News24.

Giant squid sightings generally happen once every few years, Michael Vecchione, a zoologist at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History, told Live Science.

Giant squid sightings generally happen once every few years, Michael Vecchione, a zoologist at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History, told Live Science.
Dr. Toufiek Samaai, specialist scientist for marine biodiversity at Iziko Museums of South Africa, holds up the beak of the giant squid. Dr. Wayne Florence © Iziko Museums of South Africa

Sightings are so rare, in fact, that scientists for a while thought the moniker "giant squid" comprised several species.

But a 2013 study based on DNA analysis of 43 squid specimens from around the world revealed they were all part of the same species: Architeuthis dux.

If, however, the DNA from this new squid doesn't match that of Architeuthis dux, it could throw cold water on the single-species theory.

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The largest giant squid ever found was almost 45 feet long — about the length of a school bus — and weighed nearly a ton.

The largest giant squid ever found was almost 45 feet long — about the length of a school bus — and weighed nearly a ton.
A close-up of the giant squid's beak. Dr. Wayne Florence © Iziko Museums of South Africa

According to Grosse and Davies' estimates, this new squid was 13.7 feet long and weighed at least 660 pounds. The smaller size suggests this squid was fairly young — scientists can estimate its age using the squid's length and beak size.

"This beast was probably less than two years old," Florence told News24.

Typically, squid only live five years.

From studying carcasses like these, scientists have learned that all giant squids have eight arms and two long feeder tentacles.

From studying carcasses like these, scientists have learned that all giant squids have eight arms and two long feeder tentacles.
Scientists from the Museum Victoria in Australia collect a giant squid specimen that washed ashore, 2013. Mark Norman, Museum Victoria

These tentacles help the squid pull prey from more than 30 feet away into its gaping maw. It uses its beak to chomp prey into bite-sized chunks.

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Each appendage is covered in sharp-toothed suckers that latch onto fish, jellyfish, other squid, and even whales.

Each appendage is covered in sharp-toothed suckers that latch onto fish, jellyfish, other squid, and even whales.
A giant squid specimen collected by scientists from the Museum Victoria in Australia. Mark Norman, Museum Victoria

Like other squids and octopi, giant squids have ink sacs and can squirt ink to deter predators.

Based on the beaches where carcasses have washed ashore, giant squids are thought to swim in oceans all over the world.

Based on the beaches where carcasses have washed ashore, giant squids are thought to swim in oceans all over the world.
A giant squid found in Ranheim, Norway, is measured by Professors Erling Sivertsen and Svein Haftorn. NTNU Museum of Natural History and Archaeology, 1954

The elusive denizens prefer deep water, since their foot-wide, dinner-plate-sized eyes enable them to spot prey in almost complete darkness.

They almost never leave the icy depths of their habitat, up to 3,300 feet (about 1,000 meters) beneath the waves.

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It wasn't until 2012 that scientists from Japan's National Museum of Nature and Science filmed a giant squid in its underwater habitat for the first time.

It wasn't until 2012 that scientists from Japan's National Museum of Nature and Science filmed a giant squid in its underwater habitat for the first time.
In this photo released by Tsunemi Kubodera, a researcher with Japan's National Science Museum, a giant squid attacks a bait squid as it gets pulled up by a research team, near the Ogasawara Islands, December 4, 2006. Tsunemi Kubodera of the National Science Museum of Japan, HO/AP

The researchers filmed it nearly 3,000 feet deep in Japan's Ogasawara archipelago by using flashing lights to imitate other bioluminescent creatures of the deep.

Scientists also caught a 10-foot-long juvenile giant squid on camera in US waters last June.

Scientists also caught a 10-foot-long juvenile giant squid on camera in US waters last June.
A giant squid caught on camera in the Gulf of Mexico in June 2019. NOAA

Researchers on a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration expedition captured a stunning video of this squid in the Gulf of Mexico, 100 miles southeast of New Orleans.

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