Colossal Squid
Mesonychoteuthis hamiltoni · Mollusc
The heaviest invertebrate alive, at least 495 kg, with the largest eyes of any known animal, some 27 to 40 cm across, which glow from light organs beside the lens; its arms and tentacles bear swivelling or three-pointed hooks. It lives in the Southern Ocean around Antarctica, the adults mostly between 200 and 4,000 m down. A slow ambush predator of fish such as toothfish, it is a main prey of the sperm whale, and many sperm whales carry scars thought to come from its hooks. The largest ever weighed, caught in 2007, is on show at the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa.
- Danger
- Harmless
- How it is met
- Alone, day and night
- Size
- Large
- In winter
- Active in winter
Where it lives
Sources
Open it in Biomes — MGS Toolbox