It’s been a week for huge things, firstly Pac-Man, then the bunny on a moutainside, and now the first pictures of a giant squid in its natural habitat.

small pics
bigger (but less) pics

When I was a child I wanted to be a deep-sea diver. Then I read about giant squid and changed my mind.

These pictures are massively important to the study of the creatures because no-one has ever seen one alive before. Okay, so this poor creature spent the entire time trying to rip itself off a hook and eventually lost an arm to escape (I’m pretty sure they grow back though), so it’s not a completely natural example of giant squid behaviour, but they do show that the squid actively hunt rather than drifting, as was previously thought. This also lends some credence to the old stories of giant squid attacking small vessels… Not much credence admittedly, because giant squid aren’t generally seen out of the deep ocean, but it does show that they can hunt when they want to.

*shudder*

They still creep me out though. There’s something very scary about squid and octopi. I think it’s a very instinctive fear on two levels: fear of something so utterly different, and fear of something intelligent and strong. Octopi are among the smartest creatures that we know of, with unusually large brains. No-one’s quite sure why they need such large brains. Some have suggested that it’s to control all the limbs, but I think they’re planning to build sea-water containing robots to come and destroy us all.

Oh, if anyone can find a better source for the pictures I’d be happy to see them, these were the best I could find. Some news sources told you about the great new pictures and didn’t even include a single one of them!

EDIT: I’ve found some decent pictures:

National Geographic