Download The Giant Squid by Brandon Powell 1

The Giant Squid by Brandon Powell 1
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<http://images.nationalgeographic.com/wpf/media­live/photos/000/753/cache/giant­squid­hoax_75355_600x4
50.jpg> The Giant Squid by Brandon Powell The giant squid is a mysterious creature. It is a mysterious creature because many do not know about them. In the past many people thought the giant squid was a huge monster. A man named Clyde Roppert was the first man to investigate these monsters. Clyde Roppert has his doctorate in science.This is information about a sea creature so scary, it was written about in books, and seen in terrifying movies. Clyde Roppert’s Research 2
Clyde Roppert was a cool and mysterious man. He wanted to try and find the giant squids. Here are some facts that you might think are interesting. Clyde Roppert studies snails(periwinkle); they are related to the squids. Clyde received a call from the University of Miami to come examine a dead whale that washed up on the shore. He wanted to find the giant squid too. As they 2
<http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/49/Clyde_F._E._Roper.jpg/220px­Clyde_F._E._R
oper.jpg> examined the whale, Clyde and a group of researchers pushed the whale into a hole. They used tools to cut through the whale’s three stomachs in order to find a giant squid inside the whale. Hours later they found nearly 1,000 giant squid beaks. One thing that they did know was that the giant squid was in a big fight with the whale. It had circular scars on the whales mouth from the squid. Whales eat about 20,000 squids a week and 150 giant squids per year. About 60 million squids are eaten each year. Interesting fact is that 1 million whales = 60 million squids eaten. Out of the 500 specimens, Clyde examined 100 of them. Physical Features There are specific physical features of giant squids. The giant squid belongs to the Mollusk family; their bodies are soft.These fierce giant squids leave circular scars on a whales head and jaw. The giant squids uses it arms to wrap around the jaw of the whale to fight off the whale. Giant squids are cephalopods(head­footed mollusks). This creature is strange; it has a head, brain, large eyes, three hearts, kidneys, liver, stomach,and gills. The head of a giant squid holds eyes the size of a dinner plate. The largest squids eyes recorded is 1 foot (30 centimeters) in diameters. These large eyes absorb lots of light so the giant squid can see glimpse prey and predators through the bioluminescence in the deepest ocean environment. The giant squid does not have a giant brain; it is the about the size of a donut. The beak, eight arms , two feeding tentacles, and a funnel. The eight thick arms are covered with 2 inch wide suckers. They guide their prey to the feeding tentacles.These tentacles guide their prey easily toward the beak where it is ground up by the body part called Rabula, a tongue like organ that is covered with teeth which is inside the sharp beak. The main part of the giant squids body is the Mantle, which contains the basic organs. The Funnel is an amazing multi­purpose tool; it pumps the water and other kinds of fluids through this funnel. Some of these fluids are waste,eggs and ink. They move through the water by jet propulsion which is another function of the funnel. The feeding tentacles are part of the body that helps them get their prey. The tentacles can catch prey up to 33 feet (10 meters), and are tipped with sharp tooth suckers. These tentacles are very long so they double the total body length of the giant squid. 3
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<http://s3.amazonaws.com/rapgenius/giant_squid.jpg> Habitat Giant squids live 1600­3300 feet below the sea surface. They hide in the deep of the world’s oceans. It is very rare that they come to the surface. They are very rarly seen by people. Most of the scientist’s knowledge comes from specimens washed up on beaches. The longest recorded tentacle was 43 feet in length. Clyde Roppert says that they are really strong creatures. Thousands of suckers working together on 8 arms and 2 tentacles rapidly compact the Mantle to capture the prey. Giant squid live in Mexico’s western cold water Humboldt current; this current is the home to the Humboldt squid which weighs 100 pounds(45 kilograms) and 8 feet long (2.4meters) long. Giant squids are vicious killers in the vast deep ocean. They are rarely seen in this habitat. 4 4
<http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_NSMO2uCDRho/S5ZWeloaqCI/AAAAAAAABUE/pozDydS434o/s320/colossal+s
quid.jpg> Recent Research In 2012, scientists from the Natural Habbitat in Japan and National Science Museum Colleges showed the film of a giant squid that was recorded in 2006.In 2006, Japan’s Discovery channel was the first to record it live. The hard working team of workers suspended bait from their boat. A giant squid latched on to the bait and the crew was able to pull the 24 pound squid to the surface. The camera was able to film this live squid as it came to the surface, and for the first time ever, scientist saw a living squid in the ocean no humans have ever gone where the giant squid’s live. The squid's body is really soft. Giant squids are surrounded by sperm whales who have huge cone shaped teeth.The squids have no chance to be their next meal. Conclusion There are many facts about this mysterious ocean creature that is rarely seen. Giant squids are interesting. The cool fact that I have learned about giant squids is how they have two sets of eyes, and how big the one set is. Think. The next time you see a dinner plate, imagine the size of a giant squids eyes. Also,the next time you see a child that is 4 feet tall, think about the longest recorded giant squid tentacle. 5
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<http://www.gbdh.sadiron.com/wp­content/uploads/2013/09/giant­squid.jpg> Work Cited Cerullo, M. Maryland Glyde F.E. Roper Giant Squid. North Mankato: Capstone Press, 2012 ISBN 978­1­4296­8023­3 Miller, Tori. Octopuses and Squid. New York: The Rosen Publishing Company Group Inc. 2009. ISBN 978­1­4358­2757­8 http://animal.nationalgeographic.com/animals/inverbr
ates/gaintsquids Giant Squid. National Geographic http://ocean.si.edu/giant­squid Giant Squid. The Smithsonian Fast Facts 1. Did you know that the giant squid has a beak as a mouth? 2. The giant squid is rarely seen because it lives at the bottom of the ocean floor. 3. The giant squid has tiny toothed suckers. 4. Clyde Roppert cut through a whales three stomachs and found 1,000 giant squid beaks. 5. The eye of the giant squid is the size of a dinner plate.