Stealth Journeys with the Steam Mapper

Chapter 74: Humboldt Squid Stories

"So how about sharing some less scary features about squid?   How about the Humboldt Squid you started to tell me about as we traveled along the Humboldt Current?  You said something about witnessing a mass gathering of squid.  Something like the arribada in Costa Rica when the Ridley Sea turtles come ashore in mass?   I saw a film of that with Archie Carr explaining about the mating and nesting habits of sea turtles and how the young hatchlings use moonlight to find their way from the nest up near the dunes down to the surf.   Archie Carr would describe the little hatchlings hurrying down to the water and then swimming 'like a bat out of hell" out to the open sea, heading for the Sargasso Sea for the first couple years of life.    The students always laughed when Archie got so excited and exclaimed 'Like a bat out of hell".   He devoted a long career to investigating the life cycles of many species of sea turtles.    He was a good friend of the couple we met up in the Marine Specimens lab up near Carrabelle."

"Okay", MYKA  began.   "We traveled on the Humboldt Current as we went south along South America.  The Humboldt Squid, 'Dosidicusgigas', is one of the larger species, reaching a size of about six feet from its mantle tip to its arm tip.   It might weigh as much as one hundred pounds, but usually less.   It is a member of the flying squid family."

"Would the Flying Squid Family be something like the Flying Wallenda Family?   Oh, sorry.   My circus ancestry just popped out.   Please forgive me and continue to enlighten me with your vast knowledge."

"Yes.  Well, the researchers at Hokkaido University proved that some species of squid can fly . . . glide through the air above the water, that is.  They're like the flying fish that we see all of the time.  It's just that their heavier bodies and the way they spread their fins and tentacles, and the movement that they make all create an amazing sight.  They launch themselves out of the water by opening up their mantle and drawing in water.  Then they high power blast the water from their bodies like some of those old water toys we liked so much.  It's jet propulsion!   As I said before, they spread out their fins and tentacles, and this is like forming wings.  You know how frogs have webbed toes?  Well, these squid have webbing-membranes between their tentacles. And just like wings, they create aerodynamic lift so they can glide, just like a paper airplane does.   And they can travel almost one hundred feet before returning to water.  They minimize impact with the water by folding in their tentacles and fins.   And, while they are gliding, they adjust their posture as they move forward.   These flocks of squid have been recorded in flight, with as many as twenty to thirty being reported."

"I have a question.   Why would squid want to all fly up together?   Is it some kind of sport?   I know that they are smart, so there must be a reason, and they must communicate with each other to do this in sync.    Do you know what drives them to do this?"

"Simple.  Just like flying fish they are avoiding predators in the water.  Of course, a seabird could catch one, or one could have the misfortune of landing in a boat.  You've seen what happens when a manta ray goes airborne and lands on someone's boat.   The weight of these larger creatures can be destructive and anyone in the way could be seriously hurt.   Fortunately, giant squid and colossal squid are not part of the flying squid family, but they still have caused many close encounters of the weird kind."

"There are a number of flying squid species, but the Humboldt Squid is the largest and that makes a more impressive impact.  The Humboldt has large, muscular fins for swimming and they travel long distances in schools of as many as a thousand of them, eating different types of mollusks, smaller fish, and sometimes even their schoolmates."

"Oh wow, that could certainly get one expelled from school.   Sure glad I don't attend squid school."

MYKA  groaned and then grinned.  "I can always count on you to make a joke!  Humboldt squid do have a reputation for doing dastardly things.  There are tales from Mexican fishermen who fell overboard and scientists who had too close an encounter.  The fishermen call this species the "Red Devil" and claim that the squid can strip away flesh so fast, that only the skeleton will remain by the time the victim's remains hit the seafloor.   Some scientists have claimed to swim among them peacefully and another was been bitten right through his wet suit by the squid's beak.   So, it's a case of depending on the whim of the animal, one that can have an unpredictable temperament.   What is most interesting is that the range of the Humboldt squid is expanding.  It is not just along the South American coast, and up to the California Baja region.   It is now a common sight all the way up to the coastal waters of Alaska."