They came from the deep
They're big, they're slithery, they're terrifying, they've never been seen alive – and now, it's reported, they're taking over the world, with a greater total weight as a species than the entire human race. Richard Askwith reports on the mysteries of the giant squid, a profoundly elusive creature that suddenly seems to be popping up everywhere
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But that, it now emerges, is only the beginning of the story. Last week brought even more dramatic news: the respected journal Australasian Science was reported to have announced that giant squid are currently growing so fast – both in size and in number – that, in terms of total biomass, they now surpass the human race.
On the face of it, this is absurd. Here is a species whose existence mankind has scarcely even noticed until now; for living examples of which scientists have spent whole careers searching in vain. How can they suddenly be occupying more of our planet than us? And how can scientists be so certain – when they are simultaneously so ignorant?
But the article, based on the work of Dr George Jackson of Tasmania's Institute of Antarctic and Southern Ocean Studies, seemed plain enough. Squid, it insisted, are the new "big players of the ocean". Previous constraints on their population – such as predation by sperm whales and tuna and competition for food by smaller "ground fish" such as flounder, halibut, cod and hake – have in recent years been abruptly removed, in both cases by overfishing. At the same time, global warming has heated the ocean to a temperature better suited than ever before to rapid growth – both for giant squid and for cephalopods in general.
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Most people are familiar with the opening thoughts of Tennyson's "The Kraken Wakes", either through the original or via John Wyndham's 1953 thriller: "Below the thunders of the upper deep,/ Far, far beneath in the abysmal sea,/ His ancient, dreamless, uninvaded sleep/ The Kraken sleepeth..."
The closing lines of the poem are more obscure, but may yet prove more prophetic: "There hath he lain for ages, and will lie/ Battening upon huge sea-worms in his sleep,/ Until the latter fire shall heat the deep;/ Then once by man and angels to be seen,/ In roaring he shall rise and on the surface die." |
In afterthought I can see how the post makes me look inconsiderate but it was meant as a joke, spose i've got to be a bit more careful with the quickfire comments. Tone's so annoyin to get right in posts.