What's exciting about heading to sea is that you never know when something unexpected will materialize before your eyes.
During a recent excursion off Dana Point in Orange County, with Dana Wharf Whale Watch , the captain's focus was far to the west, where fin whales had been spotted on the previous trip.
But a few people at the bow stared downward in wonder as the 95-foot Dana Pride plowed over a three-foot-long creature that was pinkish-white and trailed what looked like tentacles.
Some were calling it an octopus but my first thought was that it was part of a "Humboldt" or jumbo squid. These mysterious denizens , which thrive at depths of 600 to more than 2,000 feet, can measure up to six feet long.
It definitely looked as though it were part of something that used to be more complete.
Unfortunately, the sighting was very brief. The captain was not alerted and the carcass was not collected. I was fortunate to have gotten a photo before the carcass was plowed over at cruising speed.
We proceeded offshore and saw seeing four fin whales and, a bit later, three gray whales.
When I got home I emailed the image to William Gilly, a scientist at Stanford University's Hopkins Marine Station, and one of the world's leading authorities on Humboldt squid.
"What the heck is this?" I asked. "Could it be part of a Humboldt squid?"
His response was along the lines of, "I'm not sure because you dummies did not collect the specimen."
He was more polite, of course, stating: "Well, it has eight arm-like things but I don't see any sign of a head or eyes or mouth. Did you collect it? How big? I guess it could be the empty head of a jumbo squid with eyes ripped out, etc., but not really sure."
The photo was posted on a whale-watching group's Facebook page, and one of the comments was from Eric Austin Yee, an educator at the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach.
It read: "Wow! Hard to say exactly without getting my hands on it, but steering to larger species of squid from this photo. Pretty cool!"
By larger, presumably, he meant Humboldt squid as opposed to much smaller market squid, which are commercially fished and sold as calamari.
But was it for sure a squid, or part of a squid? An alien life form, perhaps?
Alas, we may never know.
–Pete Thomas
–Photo by ©Pete Thomas
