Giant Squid
Giant Squids are very large creatures that lives in the deep-sea(See Deep Sea). It is from the Architeuthis genus of the Architeuthidae family. They are estimated to be able to grow to as long as 20 meters starting from the tip of the two longest tentacles.
Its body is mainly composed of a mantle, eight arm tentacle, and two longer tentacles. The mantle is the big chunk of flesh behind the eyes. Many believe that it is the head, but it is actually the body and the foot. The 8 arm tentacles are used for swimming around, while the two longer ones are used for grabbing their prey. Most of their body is the tentacles making it very light despite their size.
Giant Squid mainly feed on deep-sea fish and other squid species. They chew their food with their powerful beak located at the joining center of all the tentacles. Their predators are mainly sperm whales and shards.
One of the reasons why we do not often see them is because they usually stay deep down where the temperature is cold. When they go to the surface the water is a lot warmer and that causes the squid to choke. When temperature rises, their blood loses their oxygen. That's because cold blood keep oxygen better than warm blood, meaning squid is also an cold-blooded animal. When they approach the surface, they will die.
The picture below is an image of a real (dead) giant squid picture. Taken from http://www.extremescience.com/
Octopus
Octopus and squids are known to be the smartest of their kind.
- Octopus are able to build a home for themselves
- They think and don't just depend on their instincts
- During an experiment, scientist put an sealed jar with a shrimp inside into the octopus' tank. After about 10 minutes the octopus was successfully able to figure out how to open the jar and it feasts