The "Kraken" in Norse mythology, turns out to be this!

The "guest" we are interviewing today is the plastinated specimen of giant squid (Architeuthis dux). It is located in the Today's Ocean Exhibition Hall of our museum. Its body was caught in the Pacific Ocean. It is 8.3 meters long and is one of the important exhibits of our museum.

The giant squid is the second largest mollusk in the world, belonging to the class Cephalopoda of the phylum Mollusca . The giant squid usually lives in the deep waters of the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. It is ferocious, with juvenile giant squids reaching 8 to 10 meters and adult giant squids reaching 20 meters . The giant squid has abundant pigment cells on its body surface. The contraction and expansion of pigment cells can change the color of the giant squid's body surface, adapt to the surrounding environment, and avoid natural enemies.

What is the largest mollusk in the world?

Giant squid

Mesonychoteuthis hamiltoni

Robson, 1925, also known as the giant squid, giant squid, giant squid. It belongs to the phylum Mollusca, class Cephalopoda, order Decapoda, family Squididae, genus Squididae.

What does the giant squid eat?

Other cephalopods and small fish

Giant squids generally live in the deep sea waters of the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. They rest in the deep sea during the day and swim to the shallow sea to find food at night. They feed on other cephalopods (such as sailing squids and cuttlefish) and small fish.

Is giant squid delicious?

No personal experience

It is estimated that the taste is similar to squid and cuttlefish. It is not advisable to eat too much squid, which can easily lead to indigestion. It is also not advisable to eat too much seafood, which can easily lead to high uric acid.

Octopuses, squids, and cuttlefish all have superb mimicry behaviors, fast movement capabilities, and they can all spray ink and break their wrists . Among them, the cuttlefish has the strongest ink-spraying ability, and the octopus has the strongest mimicry ability .

Octopus is commonly called "octopus" or "octopus". The main differences between it and cuttlefish and squid are:

One is the number of their arms . As we know from the common name "octopus", octopus actually has eight arms . What about squid and cuttlefish? They have ten arms, of which the male has two particularly long arms called "stalked arms", also called reproductive arms, which are mainly used for reproductive mating.

The second difference is their skeletons . Octopuses have no bones, squids have cartilage skeletons, and cuttlefishes have bone skeletons.

The third major difference is their body shape . We can clearly see that the octopus' body is oval and spherical, while the squid and cuttlefish's bodies are elongated, and the shapes of their fins are also different. The squid's fins are triangular, while the cuttlefish's fins grow all around the body.