'Voracious' jumbo squid invading Pacifc Northwest waters

[DogPoundPup]

Source: McClatchy Newspapers

WASHINGTON — They aren't your normal calamari. But the jumbo squid now lurking off the Pacific Northwest coast could threaten salmon runs and signal yet another change in the oceans brought on by global warming.

The squid, which can reach seven feet long and weigh up to 110 pounds, are aggressive, thought to hunt in packs and can move at speeds of up to 15 mph. In Mexico, they're known as diablos rojos, or red devils. They reportedly will attack divers when they feel threatened.

No one knows exactly why they started appearing in increasing numbers off Washington state and Oregon, or how many of them there are, but scientists and commercial fishermen have found them in their nets every year since 2004. One ship trawling for Pacific hake captured an estimated 50 tons of the squid in one net haul. Though they usually prefer deep water, between 1,000 and 1,500 squid washed up on the Long Beach Peninsula in southwest Washington in the fall of 2004.

"This is a new phenomenon," said Jason Phillips, a faculty research assistant at Oregon State University's Hatfield Marine Science Center in Newport. A briefing paper from the science center suggested that the jumbo squid may be "well established" in the Pacific Northwest.



Read more: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/homepage/story/34948.html

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[LWolf]

1. Will the sperm whales follow them?

I see they do:

<snip>

At the same time, though, the population of another of the squid's predators, sperm whales, has roughly doubled off the West Coast.

Fascinating.

I'm fascinated by the natural cycles of change on the planet. I expect, with global warming, that we will see more and more, and faster, changes in the next decades.

[saigon68]

28. diablos rojos

Wonder if they will name a Football team after them?

[Ian David]

2. See prior thread: Authorities warn of increased risk of Giant Squid attacks off Washington, Oregon..

Authorities warn of increased risk of Giant Squid attacks off Washington, Oregon and Alaska
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=3213614&mesg_id=3213614

[DiverDave]

3. Well, if you get lemons, make lemonade

I'm not downgrading the underlying problem, but seems to me that they can make money off these guys...

"At the same time that the jumbo squid were moving north, they also were moving south along the South American coast. Chilean fishermen used to catch none. Now they're catching 200,000 tons a year, mostly for export to Asia, Field said.

[alfredo]

4. Squid is quite tasty.

[pscot]

5. That's a haunting graphic

Where'd you find it?

[ohio2007]

6. Then we should hunt them down and feast on them. The life span is about 15 months of these

creatures I believe. They should be farmed and harvested by the fishing fleets of the northwest imo.

[petronius]

8. I'm dredging up an old memory, but IIRC I read a few years ago that squid is

a fishery where we are utilizing far below the sustainable catch. Apparently, the annual squid catch could go up massively without ill effect - unfortunately, not enough people like squid, or something like that...

[hunter]

27. So what do the squid think about the animal overpopulating the continents?

"...we should hunt them down and feast on them."

If those voracious little critters ever figure out how to hunt on land, they'll be having us for dinner.

[NickB79]

9. Ditto on the graphic, is it from a novel?

If so, I'd like to read it.

[DogPoundPup]

11. Here is where the graphic comes from......

http://stonefruit.blogspot.com/

[ronnie624]

13. Thanks so much for the link.

There is a lot of fascinating material there.

[pscot]

17. Thanks

and welcome to DU.

[Blue_Tires]

21. a very chilling portrait...

some fun rants at that blog, but he/she supports PAUL???

[Lorien]

22. Funny, I downloaded the graphic

even before I read the article.

:thumbsup:

[juno jones]

7. I guess northwest chefs are going to have to find new and delicious calamari recipes

And may hunting and the whales keep them in balance.

[kestrel91316]

10. Well, if they dine on jellyfish this could be a very good thing.......

seeing as how the frickin' jellyfish seem to have pretty much taken over parts of the oceans.....

[The Stranger]

12. This calls to mind the time of irrational fear of the deep - hopefully, it has good science backing.

[gratuitous]

14. Anyone know where Karen Hughes is these days?

Just wondering, apropos of nothing in particular.

[mainer]

15. Article says nothing about their edibility

That's the one thing everyone wants to know: what do these squid taste like, and can they be a new fishery in and of themselves?

[dysfunctional press]

16. it does make one mention about it...

At the same time that the jumbo squid were moving north, they also were moving south along the South American coast. Chilean fishermen used to catch none. Now they're catching 200,000 tons a year, mostly for export to Asia, Field said.

i'm assuming they're going to asia as a foodstuff.

[Marrah_G]

19. They are fished in Mexico- it's a pretty gruesome way of fishing also.

[JCMach1]

18. i am thinking plate-sized fried calamari

YUM

[Bake]

32. Sounds like it might be kinda tough, though.

A little on the chewy, rubbery side. I love calamari, but not if it's rubbery.

Bake

[Blue_Tires]

20. the Kraken returns?

[ohio2007]

23. Colossal squid comes out of ice ( New Zelands catch of the day )

Technicians in New Zealand have begun to thaw a rare colossal squid specimen.

The operation to defrost the 10-metre (34 feet) long, half-tonne squid began on Monday afternoon in Wellington following a postponement of 24 hours.

The animal is now sitting in a bath of salt water. Once it is thawed, scientists will begin to dissect it.

Very little is known about colossal squid, which appear to live largely in the cold Antarctic waters and can grow up to 15 metres (50 feet) long.





"They're incredibly rare - this is probably one of maybe six specimens ever brought up," said Carol Diebel, director of natural environment at the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa centre.

"It's certainly the one that we're being really careful about, completely intact and in really fantastic condition."

The Mesonychoteuthis hamiltoni specimen was caught in February 2007 in the Ross Sea.


snip




http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7367774.stm

[stubtoe]

31. Wow. Something that big is probably tough and chewy though.

:)

[unkachuck]

24. where's Jules Vernes....

....when you need him?

"The squid, which can reach seven feet long and weigh up to 110 pounds, are aggressive, thought to hunt in packs and can move at speeds of up to 15 mph."

....watch out Capitan Nemo....strange things are happening....

[TaffyMoon]

26. Packs of Killer Squid. Great.

[slampoet]

25. Good news. Maybe the Invading squid will eat the Aficanized killer bees!!

[Bigmack]

29. As a PacNW fisherman....

watching the salmon fishing go down the porcelain bowl, I gotta wonder what kind of gear I'm going to need to troll for those dudes.

The vids I've seen on TV show the Humboldts as badasses.

They could eat salmon, but maybe fishing them heavily would take some of the pressure off the west coast salmon runs.

Warmer water = increased mackerel and squid predation = fewer salmon

[Nihil]

30. Failing that ...

> but maybe fishing them heavily would take some of the pressure off
> the west coast salmon runs.

... feeding the squid some salmon fishermen would achieve the same result!

:evilgrin:
:hide: