Sperm whale versus giant squid
I swear that this blog will branch out beyond whales. But for now, photographers have finally caught sperm whales eating giant squid on camera. For years, the only evidence that sperm whales eat giant squid was in the form of sucker-shaped scars around the whales’ mouths and squid remains in their stomachs.
Sperm whales are the largest toothed whales alive, and giant squid are some of the largest invertebrates in the world.
Tony Wu, a professional ocean photographer, took the photos during a sperm whale identification study on October 15th. His team was in the same spot roughly 600 miles south of Japan where the first photos of live giant squid were taken in 2006.
Wu observed the whales diving and returning to the surface from the Osagawa Trench, where they dive down to below 1000 m (3200 ft) below the surface to feed.
In a video on his blog, Wu describes his encounter with the whales.
The group that he photographed with the giant squid was very friendly, he said, especially the whale he termed “Whale Number 5.”
“While I was swimming behind it, the whale dived down, then looped back around and came up directly underneath me. Seeing a twelve- to thirteen- meter toothed whale swim directly at you from below can be quite intimidating. Believe it or not, I’ve been in this unnerving situation before, so I stayed completely still and the whale swam within inches of me.”
“In case it’s not completely obvious,” he added, “The highlight of this adventure was seeing six sperm whales together, with one of them chewing on giant squid parts.”
Here’s the link to National Geographic, which has more pictures.
This is both hysterical and cool. But why is the T Rex fighting with the sperm whale?
Hi Scott. No one knows, except for the artist of the painting in the upper left hand corner of the blog. His name is Brandon Bird, and his site is linked on the blogroll. (It’s the only link at the moment.)
Any idea whether or not the giant squid has other predators?