In Search of Giant Squid

To read the journals, simply click on the date listed below.

January:15-18-20-25-28-30
February:1-6-7-11-12-13-14-16-19-26-27-28
March:1-2-6-7-9-10-12-14-15

February 27, 1997 - Clyde

The first part of our project has been completed. The Odyssey, the AUV with a video camera in the nose, provided valuable information on the mid-water animals which provide the food eaten by the animals that the squids, giant squid and sperm whales feed on. This wonderful machine explored several varied habitats in the Kaikoura Canyon system, especially in the mid-water zones. The extremely rough and rocky bottom habitats are not safely accessible to Odyssey in its present configuration.

It has become clear that these deep waters, which seem to be the home of the giant squid, will best be explored by a manned submersible, Phase III of this expedition, planned for 1998.

You will find fascinating information in the current (March) Popular Science magazine on the Giant Squid Expedition. It's a well-written article on the technical aspects of this part of the expedition.


The crew on the Tanekaha, a fishing boat which we chartered, and the scientific research team on board, were a very congenial bunch. Not a high-strung one in the lot, and we had a good time working together. We'll miss the fun-loving MIT team of 3 as they head back to cold Massachusetts. Adam Frankel from Cornell and Malcolm Clarke from England will stay through the weekend for more acoustic data collection and review of results and planning of manuscripts. Then I will be working more closely with the Mystique team, Emory Kristof's Rope-cam group, which is the National Geographic component of this trip.

A bonus for understanding more about sperm whales occurred when five 42 ft. male sperm whales where stranded in remote Golden Bay on the northwest corner of South Island. A group of 9, including 3 scientists and a National Geographic TV crew, flew in a small plane to the site. When we examined the whales we were able to discover interesting bits of information about their lives. In fact, a history of a whale's life is written in its skin. We saw evidence of past encounters with giant squid, circular scars from their suckers; one set even showed a 40 cm-long, double-rowed section from a tentacular club.





No one really knows why large whales strand, but it always evokes sadness when even a single whale ends up on the shore. In the very early morning darkness next day, with the rain driving in sheets across the kilometer-wide tidal flat, I was deeply affected by the sight of these five magnificant animals, so recently the pinnacle predators in their oceanic realm, now merely 200 tons of lifeless flesh. A somber scene on a somber day; I shall never forget it.

Smithsonian Giant Squid Overview Page

gene carl feldman / gene@seawifs.gsfc.nasa.gov