Incredible Article - Giant Squid Encounter

[Daylonious]

Just got through reading this article by Scott Cassell - he's the top guy on Humboldt Squid. Amazing read.

http://www.deeperblue.net/article.php/696/3/3

And I thought diving in Cenotes in Mexico was crazy dangerous... this guy get has things try to EAT HIM every time he dives...

D.

 

[DandyDon]

Incredible story - wonder how much is factual? It could all be for all I know, but I tend to be suspicous.

 

[Vie]

If I get a penny every time somebody mentioned "Giant Squid" when talking about Humboldts...

 

[Rick Inman]

Incredible story - wonder how much is factual? It could all be for all I know, but I tend to be suspicous.

You got that right, big D. Something fishie here.

Where's the video? If there really was a video of a giant squid attacking a diver, it'd be all over the networks.

Swine-bath, I say!

 

[diversteve]

You got that right, big D. Something fishie here.

Where's the video? If there really was a video of a giant squid attacking a diver, it'd be all over the networks.

Swine-bath, I say!

http://www.scubaboard.com/showthread.php?t=116391&highlight=Scott+Cassell

 

[Rick Inman]

http://www.scubaboard.com/showthread.php?t=116391&highlight=Scott+Cassell

Yeah Steve, the video is very cool, although I'm not sure who is attacking whom.

However, the part I was talking about was this (emphasis added by me):

The monstrous squid remains motionless just ten feet away. Emotions gave way to cognitive thought and I trained my camcorder on him and begin to record. Almost on cue, he begins his approach. Then, with blinding acceleration, he lurches onto me with a powerful “thud crackle”. He slams into my chest. The impact was incredibly powerful, knocking the wind out of me. His huge arms envelope my complete upper body and camera and I can feel my chest plate move as his beak grinds against it. The crackle and scratching of thousands of chitenous ring teeth against my fiberglass/kevlar chest plate is unmistakable. He withdraws back into camera range and his huge eyes begin to survey me for damage or weakness. Behind him I can see dozens of man-sized squid waiting to come at me but they don’t. Is it because he is so much larger? Is he the alpha dominant? He certainly had my full attention.

This, I didn't see on the video. I mean, the 3' squid on the video are cool, that's for sure. They're not like the big octos we see all the time in Puget Sound, but they're pretty cool.

 

[drbill]

Unless the reports from the Sea of Cortez that I've heard are untrue, the Humboldt squid has indeed been known to attack and even kill divers.

 

[mech]

I saw a different video a while back that had "Diablo Rohos" nailing a diver.
It showed some serious bruising under the divers protective armor after the dive.
The diver said something like one wasn't that bad but they more or less attacked in a group.
This video (as earlier mentioned) made you wonder who was attacking who, the other didn't.

 

[Daylonious]

Those little 3-4 footers would get annoying, but wouldn't scare me TOO much.. now when a 7 footer decides he wants some extra protein in his diet... or a pod (right word?) or 6 footers attack en masse... then it's puckerville for me.

D.

 

[RadRob]

I wonder if they were so aggressive because someone was trying to hold them and "pet" them first. It looks similar to some sharks that are normally docile creatures, but get a little upset when something foreign to them tries to invade their "personal" space. Anything invading MY space would suffer the same fate. My tentacles would wrap around them and I would ink all over them and they wouldn't like it.