Squid belong to a group of molluscs known as cephalopods, which literally means "head-foot". They range in size from the smallest grass squid (2cm) to the largest colossal squid (11metres) which lives in the Antarctic.

The giant squid (Architeuthis dux) is the largest species of squid in the North Atlantic and is known to be abundant around Newfoundland based on the record number of strandings that have occurred here. According to the Guinness Book of Records, the longest giant squid was stranded in Thimble Tickle in 1878 and measured 65 feet in length. However, we know that this length is almost certainly an exaggeration ... it's easy to stretch the tentacles!

Not much is known about the biology of giant squid. We know that females are larger than males (1.33 times larger) and we know that they live in very deep water but almost nothing is known about their reproductive, feeding and population biology. What we do know is that they are scary! For centuries they were recorded as monsters of the deep. The Vikings labelled them as the "Kraken" capable of swallowing ships ... and they have been known to "attack" small boats.

Newfoundland is the "giant squid capital of the world" (see map on right), with well over 60 sightings being recorded since the early 19th century and the hotspot for the world is right here in Bonavista! Nobody really knows why, but is probably associated with the deep sea trenches that link the ocean abyss to Bonavista and Trinity Bays. One of the known predators of giant squid, the sperm whale, is commonly found feeding on the edge of the continental shelf not too far from Bonavista.

Our specimens were the last two squid to be stranded in Newfoundland. They were washed up in 2004 at Colliers, Conception Bay (female) and Triton, Green Bay (male). When we obtained the squid they had to be thawed and then injected with formalin before being soaked in a bathtub of the chemical for a month. We then placed them in an eight foot glass display case where they now rest peacefully submerged in isopropyl alcohol!  The picture on the middle right shows the 12 foot long female with her tentacles folded back towards the body. 

We have not yet found a giant squid in our research on the diet of toothed whales in Newfoundland.