Interesting Squid Facts| Thing You Probably Don’t Know About Squids

Squids generally mean the 304 species of cephalopods of the order Teuthida. This article is a collection of some of the mind-boggling squid facts that are unique by any means.

Below Are Some Of The Interesting Squid Facts:

Like octopuses squid are also cephalopods, i.e, their feet originate from their head. We have discussed octopus earlier. today we will discuss squid. If you want to know interesting facts about octopuses, click here.

To date, more than 300 species of squid have been discovered. The size of the normal squids hovers in around 50-60 cm. while the giant squid can reach up to 13 meters.

They can swim faster than any other invertebrate.

They have the largest eye in the animal kingdom. The giant squid has the eyeballs of the size of a basketball.

Squid show sexual dimorphism. A mature female is larger than the mature male squid.

They have a very large brain and are considered to be very intelligent.

Read Reef Creature Identification

They possess fins, but unlike any other marine animal, fins are not their primary source of locomotion. They swim backward i.e, they swim tail-first rather than head-first.

Unlike other molluscs, squid doesn’t have any outer shell covering their body. The hardest part of their body is the beak. The beak is made up of chitin and it is used to kill prey.

What do squids eat?

They are carnivorous i.e, they eat crustaceans, fish and smaller squids. How a squid eats is also very interesting.

How many tentacles does a squid have?

Due to their visual similarities, squid is sometimes mistaken for the octopus.
Unlike Octopuses the squids have 10 arms(8 arms and 2 tentacles). Like the octopus, they squirt dark ink to distract predators and escape.

Their skin is covered with chromatophores. Due to this, they can change their color to match their surroundings. Like fishes they also possess gills.

The giant squid is the largest invertebrate animal in the world. The Humboldt squid is very aggressive and it sometimes even attacks sharks.

Some squid has bio-luminescent organs in their body and so they can glow in the dark.

The giant squid can grow up to 60 ft and weigh up to 1000 lbs. They have a large beak which is very sharp and resists bending. The beak is made up of chitin and it is used to kill its prey.

Squid has three hearts. Their blood contains hemocyanin (a copper-rich protein)in place of hemoglobin-like ours.

Many species of squid are considered food in many countries.

The lifespan for a common squid is around 1 to 2 years. Reproduction in squids is also a very interesting thing to watch out. Here is more on squid reproduction.

Thanks for reading. I hope you have learned something new and interesting.

If you want to know more facts and information about squids and other marine animals check out Paul Humann and Ned DeLoach’s Reef Creature Identification