Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Colossal Squid


Believed to be the largest known invertebrate, make the Colossal Squid a giant in terms of the other species of its family. The Colossal Squid was discovered and then inevitably named in the annum 1925 by the British Zoologist Guy Coburn Robson who named it M. Hamiltoni under the genus of Mesonychoteuthis.

The span in length of the Colossal Squid is estimated between the range of twelve and fourteen meters though a full sized Colossal Squid hasn’t as yet been found. The estimate of the squid was based on under developed squids of the same species by predicting their full growth span according to their growth cycle and the age they were at when observed.

The Colossal Squid has its variation when it comes to the tentacles as compared to the giant squid. The Colossal Squid has sharp hooks, some of them with three points while others which swivel, evolution, you might think from the giant squid whose tentacles only have little suckers engrained with small teeth.

The Colossal Squid has a bigger head than the giant squid but falls short on its tentacles which are measured to be shorter than those of the giant squid. These proportions significantly increase the overall weight of the Colossal Squid which also has the largest eyes ever to be witnessed in the animal kingdom apart from having a beak that reveals its abyssal gigantism.

The Colossal Squid is known to inhabit the Southern Ocean where it has been spotted in the waters between Antarctica and South America and then between New Zealand and the bottom tip of South Africa.

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