Humboldt squid - cephalopod belonging to the family of Ommastrephidae.Mostly it lives in that part of the Pacific Ocean, where the Peruvian current, at a depth of 0.2 - 0.7 km.
its impressive dimensions, the length can reach up to 2 meters and weighs 50 kg.The body consists of the head, feet and 10 tentacles.The outer shell is not.The lower part of legs modified to funnel needed for movement.The remaining part is the mantle cavity to the internal organs.The tentacles coming from the feet and around the mouth, equipped with suction cups.Lovcen two, they are long.The remaining eight, sometimes called arms serve to hold the victim.
complex has a vision of Humboldt squid.Photos presented in the article, well demonstrate large eyes.From developed senses of touch, taste cells there.Chromatophores are common to most cephalopods.At the moment, the body color can vary from creamy-gray to red and back.
Kalmar Maritime has bioluminescence, is the ability to light up the lower part of the body.This feature helps to hunt and to confuse predators.In the breeding season it is used to attract attention to himself.
Humboldt squid have colorless blood.In the interaction with oxygen, it becomes blue becauseconsisting hemocyanin, oxygen-carrying protein, there are copper ions (our blood red, because it contains oxygen carried by hemoglobin, the basis of which - iron ions).
Humboldt Squid is not a loner.Lifestyle is gregarious, sometimes a company exceeds 1000 individuals.They feed on fish, crabs, and sometimes their relatives.Cases of attacks on humans.In the fed state passive, sometimes curious.
movement with the release of water in the opposite direction is energetically costly.For a long time it remained unclear how it goes when submerged area of ocean water with reduced oxygen concentration.Recently, it became clear that the Humboldt squid is able to slow down the metabolism by 80%, dropping in places inaccessible to hunt him tuna, sailfish, marlin and others.
interested in the process of reproduction.The males, which are generally smaller than females, one of the tentacles designed to fertilization.They it is extracted from the mantle cavity spermatophores containing sperm and placed in the cavity of the female.After a certain time, the expectant mother lays eggs, which are quite large.Nest is built in advance of the rest of the shells and stones.Female vigilantly guarding the eggs, and later - appeared young.
Unfortunately, much of the life of the Humboldt squid remains unknown because of its habitat.The living form to move it to the laboratory fails, it dies within a few hours.Its migration to the areas of production of marine life caused concern among scientists.As it multiplies quickly enough, it may threaten many populations of commercial fish.
local population in those countries where they are found off the coast of squid, happy to catch them.Meat delicious, it is found on the shelves of coastal shops.In large quantities are exported to different countries.
