Giant squid are invading the California coast. The Humboldt Squid that can reach about 6 feet long and way a hundred pounds. Their population is growing and it is expanding outside its normal home base between Chile and Mexico in their search for food. They like the same seafood we like and will eat anything including salmon, anchovy, herring and other good food that comes from that region.

The giant squid has earned many nicknames including “red devil” and “the beast” since they can be a very dangerous sea creature. They are also called the “jumbo flying squid” because of the athletic way they jump out of the water into the air to dive into schools of fish to feed. Squids of all types are known as very good eaters; they eat constantly and eat a lot. Where only a few used to visit the California area, they are returning in huge numbers. A recent guess by the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute guesses that maybe hundreds of thousands of giant squid are migrating (moving away from their normal areas where they live).

Besides being able to add squid to our food menu in greater quantities now that we have so many, we may be able to learn from them as well. Squid have a razor-sharp beak that is known to be used in attacking whales and which has met great interest in medical study. The beak which should be dangerous to the soft-bodied boneless squid turns out to be an example for scientists and researchers. The razor-sharp beak is hard at the point where it is used as a tool to attack and feed. As the beak gets closer to where it connects at the mouth of the squid it gets softer. The way the beak changes from hard to soft is important because it may help scientists create human implants in a similar way.

Believe it or not the giant squid isn’t the biggest squid out there. The colossal squid is a rare deep-water species which can swim 6,500 feet into the bottom of the ocean. In the spring of 2008 a previously caught and frozen colossal squid was thawed for researchers to study. The colossal squid caught by fisherman was 26 feet long and 1,089 pounds and can be found in the Antarctic region. A squid of this type can grow to 46 feet long. The biggest colossal squid before this colossal squid was found a female that weighed only 660 pounds in 2003.