How Do You Like Your Calamari? Large, Extra-Large, Giant, Or Colossal?

Colosssal_squidCHT to the reader who sent in

THIS STORY ABOUT WHAT MAY BE THE BIGGEST SQUID EVER BROUGHT ASHORE.

It’s a colossal squid that is 39 feet long and weighs 990 pounds. (That’s 15 kilometers and 852 grams, for those of you who use metric.)

It was caught in Antarctic waters off New Zealand and weighs 50% more than the previous biggest catch (which was 660 lbs. or 428 grams).

This one was so big that

If calamari rings were made from the squid they would be the size of tractor tires, one expert said.

Now, this is a colossal squid, not a giant one. There’s a difference. Colossal squid are gianter than giant squid.

Giant squid get almost as long as colossal squid, but they don’t weigh as much. Both of them apparently have severe tussles with whales, given the scars we find on whales who lived to tell the tale. (In the whale community, they probably have entire ballads about fighting giant and colossal squids.)

I find these creatures fascinating because we know so little about them. They’re just down there in the water, skulking about, doing their sinister business, and rarely coming up to where we can get a good look at them. I mean, they never come over and visit or anything.

We only just recently got video of a live giant squid.

HERE’S THE VIDEO.

HERE’S MORE INFO ON COLOSSAL SQUID.

AND ON GIANT SQUID.

AND ON THE VAMPIRE SQUID FROM HELL.

Author: Jimmy Akin

Jimmy was born in Texas, grew up nominally Protestant, but at age 20 experienced a profound conversion to Christ. Planning on becoming a Protestant seminary professor, he started an intensive study of the Bible. But the more he immersed himself in Scripture the more he found to support the Catholic faith, and in 1992 he entered the Catholic Church. His conversion story, "A Triumph and a Tragedy," is published in Surprised by Truth. Besides being an author, Jimmy is the Senior Apologist at Catholic Answers, a contributing editor to Catholic Answers Magazine, and a weekly guest on "Catholic Answers Live."

61 thoughts on “How Do You Like Your Calamari? Large, Extra-Large, Giant, Or Colossal?”

  1. This squid is just blowing its own horn by allowing itself to be photographed. So it’s the biggest live squid ever seen! Big deal! A truly humble squid would have avoided the camera, remained anonymous, and dived back to the bottom of the ocean.

  3. I can’t believe that Jimmy is showing us this picture of a Squid being exploited like this. How would you feel if it was a picture of Jimmy Akin being pulled up in a net for readers to gawk at?

  4. I think that’s “15 meters and 852 kilograms” not 15 Km and 852 grams.

    852 Km can’t possibly be correct. Clearly Jimmy meant 150 kilos and 852 Mb. It’s a common error (the NASA Mars scientists made the same mistake).

  7. Darn it!
    And I thought they actually captured something like the one from 20000 Leagues Under the Sea!

  8. Does anyone know if the squid has seen the motu proprio.After all he has the biggest eyes of any creature.

  9. Eileen R:
    I can’t believe that Jimmy is showing us this picture of a Squid being exploited like this. How would you feel if it was a picture of Jimmy Akin being pulled up in a net for readers to gawk at?
    I agree with you Eileen!
    The next thing you know, some insensitive dolt will be making ill-intentioned remarks such as calling the poor squid Squidward Tentacles from Sponge Bob or that alien character with a big squid-like head from Return of the Jedi!
    And to think this is Lent! You guys are so despicable, you probably would eat a seafood platter containing squid after this!

  10. Bill912:
    This squid is just blowing its own horn by allowing itself to be photographed. So it’s the biggest live squid ever seen! Big deal! A truly humble squid would have avoided the camera, remained anonymous, and dived back to the bottom of the ocean.
    That squid should’ve declined being photographed!
    One could’ve said: “I do not deserve being photographed” and rejected it!

  11. David, it is made of ectoplasm, hence the very low density, approaching that of a laboratory vacuum.
    Either that, or we shouldn’t mess with the French system, not being French.

  13. SDG,
    Heh.
    39 ft. = 11.9 meters
    990 lbs. = 449.5 kg
    Jimmy was clearly thinking of something from Babylon 5.

  15. Jimmy was clearly thinking of something from Babylon 5.

    Actually, I think Jimmy was thinking of Han Solo’s boast in Star Wars about making the Kessel run in less than 12 parsecs.

  17. “…I always heard it said ‘kray-kin’.”
    “What? With a long A?”
    “Uh-huh.”
    “Na-na-na-na-no-no no ‘Krah-ken’ is how it’s pronounced in the original Scandinavian, and ‘Krakken’ is closer to that.”
    “Well we ain’t original Scandinavians, are we? Kray-kin.”

  19. And since someone already brought up Squidward, didja notice he is really much more an octopus than a squid?
    I was fascinated with whales and oceanography in general as a kid (Jaques Cousteau was my hero) and the idea of giant squid battling with great whales in the “sunless depths” was just the most amazing thing to imagine.
    This is a mind-boggling creature.

  20. I was fascinated with whales and oceanography in general as a kid (Jaques Cousteau was my hero) and the idea of giant squid battling with great whales in the “sunless depths” was just the most amazing thing to imagine.
    Ditto, Tim J.! =^)

  23. And since someone already brought up Squidward, didja notice he is really much more an octopus than a squid?
    Same Class: Cephalopoda

  25. Look! It’s Admiral Ackbar!
    Thanks David!!!! <=^o I didn't know that guy's name and so I just said: that alien character with a big squid-like head from Return of the Jedi!

  26. I used to work in a medical field where I dealt with a lot of blood and chronic wounds without problems…
    But that video gave me the he-bee-gee-bees. I believe that is the clinical term anyways….
    Yech. No calamari for me for a while.

  27. A few observations:
    (1) If the Pak’ma’ra ate colossal squid carrion, would it be considered cannibalism?
    (2) All those tentacles brings back unpleasant memories of my last trip to Japan, and of the horrors I witnessed there (and this has nothing to do with the fact that squid is a popular dish in Japan — I think everyone now understands what I am talking about).
    (3) Global warming has caused Cthulhu to awaken early! No one is safe! Ia! Ia! Cthulhu!
    (4) Colossal Squidward.

  31. A fishing vessel pulled the squid up while it was retreiving its catch. The squid was trying to steal a snack, and got caught, there is a moral in this for all of us.

  35. Oddest thing is that I have a child’s science picture book from when I was five. It has a illustraion of the Giant Squid with other abysal fishes, and the caption says that scientists think they exist and (for the fishes) that there aren’t any cameras yet able to photograph them.

  37. Nature is the one who punishes iniquity.
    God simply stops holding it back from punishing our crimes against the Order of the Universe.

  38. If I’m not mistaken, toothed whales don’t so much battle giant and colossal squid as eat them. (Baleen whales would wind up making squid soup.) Not surprisingly, the squid would prefer not to be eaten. I’m with the whales. Anyone got Ann’s recipe yet?

  39. Cajun Fried Calamari
    Recipes
    Ingredients:
    2 pounds cleaned calamari (fresh or frozen)
    1 1/2 cup unbleached all purpose flour
    1/4 cup ground cumin
    1/4 cup chile powder
    1 teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper
    1/2 teaspoon salt
    2 cups corn oil – more if needed
    Tabasco sauce, to taste
    Lemon wedges
    cocktail or tartar sauce
    Directions:
    Rinse the calamari, cut them into 1/4-inch rings and place the slices on paper towels to dry. Combine the flour, cumin, chile powder, pepper and salt in a shallow bowl.
    Heat the oil in a large skillet. When it is very hot, dredge the calamari in the flour mixture, shake off any excess and fry in the oil in batches until light-brown and crispy. As the calamari are frying, sprinkle several dashes of Tabasco on them, depending on how spicy you want them. Drain on paper towels, and serve as desired with cocktail or tartar sauce, with lemon wedges on the side.
    Per Serving: 253 calories, 19 g protein, 10 g carbohydrates, 15 g fat, 264 mg cholesterol, 183 mg sodium, 0 fiber. Calories from fat: 55 percent.
    This recipe for Cajun Fried Calamari serves/makes 8
    I think THAT one would feed…hmmm…at least a 100?

  44. This THING is so frustrating!
    Jimmy, if I post more than 2 post in an hour I have to prove I am not a computer or someone up to something foul. I can’t always read those! Do you not want us to post that often?
    Sorry about the Italics

  55. [i] (with pointy brackets instead of square ones) turns italics on.
    [/i] (with pointy brackets instead of square ones) turns italics off.
    The source of the problem in this case lay in putting [i] in multiple times in the effort to turn italics off. Thus [/i] needed to be entered multiple times to shut them off.
    This would be an easy mistake to make if one were under the impression that [i] acts as a toggle that can either turn italics on or off, but–at least in usual HTML–one needs [/i] to turn them off.
    Hope this helps!

  56. So sorry Jimmy. In using this before, I did not have to have a / to turn it off, one canceled the other. So sorry.

  57. Maybe it is good that I couldn’t continue last night (due to having to enter in the letters and numbers) because it could have taken all day to undo. 🙂

  58. “2 pounds cleaned calamari (fresh or frozen)…
    This recipe for Cajun Fried Calamari serves/makes 8
    I think THAT one would feed…hmmm…at least a 100?”
    With a Krakken like that, it’d feed more like 4000. Perfect for a parish fish fry! Mmmmm…

  61. <> works and [] doesn’t. Jimmy used [] to illustrate because if he had used <> and put the “i” inside, it would have shown up as italics, not <> with an “i” inside.

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