Barbary Coast Dive Club Newsletter

p3

Giant Squid Wash Ashore in California
By The Associated Press

NEWPORT BEACH, Calif. (AP) _ Hundreds of giant squid are washing up on Orange County beaches, creating a scene more akin to ``20,000 Leagues Under the Sea'' than "The O.C.''

The bug-eyed sea creatures, believed to be Humboldt squid, normally reside in deep water and only come to the surface at night. Why approximately 500 of them began washing up on the sands of Laguna Beach and Newport Beach on Tuesday isn't clear.

Authorities said the squid -- the biggest weighing 17 pounds -- might have been pursuing bait fish and gotten too close to shore, or the tides might simply have carried them in.

"I have heard of this happening before, but it's not a common occurrence,'' lifeguard Capt. Eric Bauer of the Newport Beach Fire Department said Wednesday.

Authorities plan to remove the squid in the next couple of days and will give at least a couple to the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History for research.

In the meantime, beachgoers were advised not to eat or even touch them. "They probably have bacteria on them at this point,'' Bauer said.

Because they feed at night, they are rarely seen. Most of those that washed ashore were small in size weighing just under twenty pounds. Named for the Humboldt Current off the cost of Peru.

This creature of the deep can dive up to 1000 feet. Each can grow to be up to 100 pounds and seven feet long with powerful arms and tentacles. According to marine species and squid expert, William Gilly, of California’s Stanford University Scripps Institute of Oceanography.

Humboldt squid are powerful, aggressive cannibals. This squid, which commonly eats injured members of its own species and it may be hazardous to swim near one. "As soon as one of their fellow squids gets hooked, and they can see it is caught or behaving differently, they attack it and start chomping away" Hanlon says. Females, which grow slightly larger, resort to cannibalism more often than do males.They are agile as well as fast and can move forward or backward, left or right, and make changes in midcourse. They can certainly outmaneuver a fish."

Gilly and Markaida, who have tagged 2,000 Humboldt squid in the Sea of Cortez, have learned that during the day the squid dive to about 1,000 feet and stay there all day. "The amazing thing is that this is the oxygen-minimum layer, where the oxygen in the water goes down to almost zero," Gilly says. "Seals and whales may dive there for short bursts, but they hold their breath. The squid hang out there for hours, and they have to breathe. But there’s no oxygen, so what are they doing?" Gilly is looking for funding to send down low-light cameras to see how the squid are coping. So far it’s a mystery. At night, the squid prefer depths above 200 feet, where there is plenty of oxygen in the water.

Squid are a type of mollusk. Their ancestors swam the seas some 400 million years ago, long before fish or land animals existed.

Long common off the coast of South America, Humboldt squid moved into the Sea of Cortez in the 1970s and have developed into one of Mexico’s leading fisheries, with about 120,000 metric tons of squid taken in 1997. Most of it is sold to China or Korea, where it is a staple food.The Humboldt squid is seen predominately in waters around South America. and grow largest in their native waters. However groups of these odd creatures have been spotted in increasing numbers in the Gulf of California, Oregon and Alaska. Scientists assessing the scene told the local press and Reuters that at this point they do not know why the squid washed ashore or why they were there in the first place.

One theory is that the lowering population of the Humboldt squid's predators is changing the balance of the ocean's food chain. Scientists question whether the squid is a welcome new resource or proof that the gulf is in trouble. The invertebrate may merely be occupying a place on the food chain that has been vacated by overfished and dwindling species such as shark, tuna and marlin. But Gilly believes that the dynamics of the Sea of Cortez are not that simple. "Overfishing is a likely factor in a complicated equation, but I don’t think it explains everything," he says. "Humboldt squid aren’t 100-pound brutes their whole lives. They start out as quarter-inch larvae that are just about the best food for fish there could be. Adult squid may be competing with the fin fish, but they are providing food for whales, and there are a lot more sperm whales in the Sea of Cortez than ever before." Humboldt squid live only about a year or two, but because they reproduce quickly they can bounce back from fishing pressure faster than fin fish can.

In more surfing I got some interesting e-mails:

Hi everyone,

I recently received the following email from bob and was hoping someone could assist him:

Message I'm kind of new to this squid thing. On a recent trip to La Paz in Baha I noticed native fishermen catching some fairly large squid. I enquired if they were good to eat and was told they were excellent. How to cook them, just fry. Well I tried that and they tasted very salty and a bit lemony. Not very good. Can you tell me what this is all about. Cheers, Glen

That's odd, I usually add lemon and salt to my squid anyway! Maybe these Baha squid are genetically modified....... blink.gif
Seriously, did you catch these squid yourself bob, or did you buy them? I've been told that unscrupulous fishmongers sometimes salt their squid to increase their shelf life. This might explain the saltiness, no idea about the lemony taste (probably a different species of squid to our southern calamari I guess). Do you know if the squid were Humboldt squid? This species is caught around Baha, and grows huge.
Jaz

Jaz, thanks for the reply. I caught the squid off La Paz at a place where several native fishermen were fishing for them. I believe it is a Humbolt Squid. It was about 4 feet long. We were using them for bait to catch Pargo but I saved a fairly large piece of the mantel for the table. Every one seemed to think they were really good table fare and it sure looked good to me.

Come on guys, help me out here. I hate to waste this stuff.

Bob oops.gif

Bob, I have tried to cook the same squid you are talking about twice. Both times it was not good in my opinion. Very salty with an amonia smell and taste. The first time it was squid that a freind gave me from San Carlos mex. and I blamed him for not cleaning it properly. The second time was squid that I caught, cleaned, and put on ice in a manner of minutes. I might sound crazy but, it burned my hands a little as I cleanned it. I thought that was very strange. Kind of like jelly fish. I even soaked it in water and a little baking soda over night before I fryed it. Still that amonia smell and flavor? I am in the same boat as you, I have more in my frezzer and don't want to waste it but I think it is bait now.

I have eaten squid in Loreto Mex. that was just grilled and it was great! I did recently talk to a guy that grew up in Mexico and he said that the big squid is no good no matter how you cook it. So, I don't know. Mybe someone out there can help? All I can do is share your experience.

It is very good for bait!!

Robert

Robert fresh squid ought to have a sweet and mild taste. If it doesn't taste like that then the raw material you are using is no good laugh.gif

This post has been edited by glen: Jun 6 2004, 01:43 AM

tongue.gif The Humbolt squid caught off eastern Baja needs to be cleaned properly before cooking. The first 1/4 inch needs to be taken off the sides or the meat will taste sour.

Fair Game: Are squid vicious?
The squid’s two tentacles are remarkably fast and elastic. They can lash out from among the arms to grapple startled prey, holding them fast with clusters of suckers. As the tentacles retract, they draw the fish into the arms, which wrestle the prey to the squid’s mouth and hold it there as the squid tears its food with the razor-sharp edges of its parrotlike beak. "It’s like they are sucking the animal right in," Gilly says of the speed with which squid demolish their prey. "But they leave the bone. I don’t believe they have the jaw muscles to crush through it. Fishermen have been bitten by the squid, but I have never heard of a serious accident."Oh, yeah, and more of them than ever seem to be swarming the Gulf of California.

To his surprise, the reaching squid gently touch his hand. "First one did it and then withdrew, and then the others," Gilly recalls. "They taste with their tentacles. I guess I didn’t taste that good."