Sea Monsters (4 page)

They catch their prey with their
tentacles. Then they coil their arms around their victim just like a python.

Finally, giant squids bite their prey into pieces with their powerful beaks. They have a bony tongue called a
radula
(RAA-juh-luh). The radula has many tiny
teeth on it. These teeth break the food down into even smaller bits.

Giant squids can move as fast as twenty-three miles an hour. When they move quickly, they spurt water from a
siphon
(SY-fun) in their mantles. They take water in and then shoot it out.

The force of the water pushes the squids where they want to go. Squids use their strong fins to move forward toward their food.

For many years, scientists thought that giant squids were the largest squids. But in 1925, scientists found some
tentacles in a
sperm whale’s stomach. These tentacles were different from the giant squid’s. They came from a squid that was even larger!

Scientists named this squid the
colossal
(kuh-LAH-sul)
squid.
Since then, other
tentacles have been found in whales. Fishermen have also pulled up parts of colossal squids’ bodies.

In 2003, fishermen spotted a colossal squid feeding off the coast of
Antarctica. They managed to haul it into their boat. It, too, died when they got it on board.

It is rare to see the entire body of a colossal squid. Scientists found that it had two huge beaks and small teeth that looked like a parrot’s. Sharp hooks on its arms turned in circles. Its body was wider and fatter than the
giant squid’s. But we still aren’t certain how long colossal squids grow to be.

Sperm whales feed on all kinds of squids, even the biggest. In fact, some sperm whales have been found to have more than 15,000 squid beaks in their stomachs!

Sperm whales can grow up to fifty feet long. They dive very deep into the ocean and can hold their breath for two hours! No one has ever seen a sperm whale fight a
giant or
colossal squid. But scientists often see scars on the whales’ skin that were made by the squids’ suckers. Imagine what a battle
that
must have been!

In 2001, underwater cameras filmed a very weird squid. No one had ever seen anything like it.

An expert from the National Museum of Natural History studied the film. He saw an animal with a tiny body and ten long arms, each about twenty-three feet.

But the most unusual thing about this squid was its two large fins. They flapped around its small body just like elephant ears!

There are many different kinds of octopuses in oceans around the world. Octopuses come in all sizes. The largest are the
giant Pacific octopuses. Their arms grow to be fourteen to sixteen feet long.

Unlike
squids, octopuses do not have
tentacles. They have eight arms with two rows of suckers on each arm. Each sucker has a taste bud on it. The arms can move in any direction. Octopuses taste whatever they touch. If they lose an arm, that’s no problem—they will grow another!

Most of the time, octopuses crawl or walk over the ocean floor. But just like
squids, they can move quickly by shooting water from their mantle.

Some octopuses look dangerous. Actually, most are very shy. They seem to have their own personalities. They also seem to be curious. Sometimes they will touch divers in a gentle way, almost as if they were exploring or tasting them.

Octopuses have large brains shaped like doughnuts. Their brains wrap around their throats. They are as smart as dogs!

One night at the
Seattle Aquarium, an octopus crawled out of its tank. It slipped into other tanks and ate some fish. Then it went back home. The next morning, the octopus’s keeper found a wet trail on the floor.