Cephalopods · Oegopsida · Architeuthidae

Giant Squid

Architeuthis dux

Not Evaluated

It has not yet been assessed against the IUCN criteria. See full glossary

It is one of the largest and most mysterious animals on the planet, and was not seen alive in its own habitat until relatively recently. For all its enormous size it lives only three to five years.

Weight

200 kg – 275 kg

Size

10 m – 13 m

Lifespan

4 years

Diet

Carnivore

Feeds mainly on other animals.

Activity

Nocturnal

Active mainly at night.

Social structure

Solitary

Lives and hunts alone, joining others only to breed.

Sighting difficulty

Unknown

OceanCarnivore Nocturnal Solitary Ocean Mollusc

24countries

Fun facts

It can reach 13 metres long including the tentacles.
For all its enormous size it lives only three to five years, breeding once.
A female can carry more than a million eggs in her ovary.
anatomíaIt has the largest eyes in the animal kingdom, reaching roughly the size of a basketball.

Life cycle & biology

Skeleton type: Invertebrate - no bony skeleton, supported by an internal cartilaginous structure (gladius)
Habitat & environment: Deep oceanic waters (200-1,000 m) worldwide
Birth weight: Eggs 0.5-1.4 mm long; paralarvae 6-30 mm of mantle length on hatching
Size at birth: 6-30 mm of mantle length as a planktonic paralarva
Sexual maturity: Approximately 3 years
Gestation / incubation: No gestation; development takes place in external eggs after fertilisation
Litter / clutch size: Over a million eggs per clutch (one female examined carried over 5 kg of eggs in her ovary)

Sources consulted: Te Papa Tongarewa Museum; Dimensions.com; Animalia.bio; Animal Diversity Web; AnAge (genomics.senescence.info); SeaLifeBase; Grokipedia (giant squid entry)