They Came from Beneath The Sea

 

Stop-motion squid sexapus by Ray Harryhausen.

Much, much chatter about the appearance of ‘giant’ (i.e. up to man-sized) Humboldt Squid (Dosidicus gigas) appearing across the California Coast. A new PNAS paper: Invasive range expansion by the Humboldt squid, Doscidicus gigas, in the eastern North Pacific. The authors tie the northward expansion of these predatory squid to the declines (through overfishing) of apex predators in the North Pacific including billfish¹.

The authors also note a correspondent decline in populations of hake, Merluccius productus. Hake is an important commercial fish used to make Surimi better known in the States as the ‘crab’ in a California Roll.

mmm…crab stick.

Well, I have to admit I’m with Reid Farmer on this one, I’ll take calamari over fake crab any day. Now, if we could just teach them to search for sunken treasure…

For dessert: check out this awesome local news coverage which contains the claim that Humboldts can ’suck the life out of a human being!’

And here’s the carnage,

mmm…jumbo squid.

¹ - I hate to admit I’ve eaten swordfish a time or two myself. And I loved every bite….