In an interview 20 years ago, Gordon Robertson, an elderly member of the Haisla tribe along the northern British Columbia coast, recalled an extraordinary moment from his childhood when a killer whale broke the surface not far from shore in the middle of a thrashing struggle with a giant squid. Hours later, one tentacle drifted to shore, and Robertson toted it home, where his mother soon had it boiling for supper.
These extraordinary creatures of the deep sea have until now almost always been seen this way — brought to the surface involuntarily or floating there dead. But a scientific expedition documented by the Discovery Channel and the Japanese television company NHK has for the first time recorded video images of these reclusive predators in the depths that are their home.
The Los Angeles Times has an excellent story summarizing the project, which deployed a glowing lure intended to copy the bioluminescent display of some of the squid’s prey. The squid was nine feet long, but missing both of its longest tentacles, which would have given it a length closer to 25 feet.
You can see much more on Jan. 27, when the Discovery Channel runs “Monster Squid: The Giant is Real,” as the final episode of its Curiosity series.
Loading Twitter messages...
