Most southern Sperm WhalesNoun. cachalote m (plural cachalotes) sperm whale.https://en.wiktionary.org › wiki › cachalote
Food FYI: Giant squid isn't edible, in case you were wondering - Los Angeles Times.
What eats them? The perk of being large is that almost nothing can defeat a giant squid. Sperm whales are the only known regular predator of giant squids (and are really great at finding them too). Juvenile giant squids are prey to smaller whales, such as pilot whales, deep-sea sharks and other predatory fish.
Giant squid are also known to have sharp teeth embedded in their suckers for extra grip. While predators don't always get along with other predators in nature, there has never been evidence of any shark getting on the wrong side of an extremely large squid.
But as far as is publicly known, the colossal squid has never been observed alive in its natural, deep-water habitat, although a number of such recordings of the giant squid have been made in recent years.
Colossal squid are the heaviest squid on the planet (but they're not actually big enough to sink a pirate ship). The ones that have been found whole weighed nearly 500 kilograms – that's almost the same as a grand piano.
In 1978, the USS Stein was apparently attacked by a giant squid. The ship's "NOFOUL" rubber coating was damaged with multiple cuts containing evidence of claws found in squid tentacles.
In either situation, the shark will die, either from a loss of blood or from drowning. The shark will have little hope in surviving if the squid attaches, and the squid has multiple opportunities to do so. The squid would come out as the victor and the deadlier monster of the sea.
Considering that giant squid are on the menu for sperm whales, sperms whales often win in fights against giant squid. However, giant squid don't go down easy and put up a brave fight against the much larger and heavier sperm whale.
Whales eat colossal squid, and the squid beaks stay in the whale's stomach for a long time because they are not easily digested.
Since then, a total of only eight adult colossal squid have been reported, and six of those were remains recovered from the stomachs of caught whales.
Giant squid live up to their name: the largest giant squid ever recorded by scientists was almost 43 feet (13 meters) long, and may have weighed nearly a ton.
The biggest known giant squid was 12 metres long, but their average length is 7.3 metres, and most individuals are shorter than 9.2. Its archenemy, the sperm whale, has a recorded maximum size of 24 metres, but 95 percent of these whales are shorter than 15 metres.
"The giant squid is poisonous, so you can't eat it," says Hatt, the spoilsport. "It has a high ammonia content - it's a totally different species to the squid that live nearer the surface." Sometimes, it seems, there are reasons why things live 450 fathoms under the sea.
The Humboldt squid is also known as the red devil, or the wolf of the ocean. It is so deadly that even its suckers are covered in sharp teeth.
It's thought that giant, colossal and Humboldt squid are aggressive, opportunistic creatures that prey on anything that comes their way -- from easy meals of fish and shrimp to a more sporting hunt of other large cephalopods and whales. The Humboldt, specifically, are known to be fierce, cannibalistic fighters.
Do orcas have predators? Orcas are apex predators, which means they're at the very top of the food chain and they have no predators. Killer whales are some of the largest and most powerful animals in the ocean, and no other predator is able to challenge them.
While giant squids are technically longer in length than colossal squids, colossal squids weigh more given the size of their mantle and body. Giant squids only beat colossal squids in length because of their arms and tentacles.
Researchers have confirmed that squids can fly. The Neon Flying Squid propels itself out of the ocean by shooting a jet of water at high pressure, then opens its fins to glide over the water. But it's not just a jump, scientists say. The squids hold a very definite fly posture, with wings spread to maximize distance.
A massive squid has been caught on video attacking a Greenpeace submarine in the Bering Sea. The squid can be seen in a Vine video lashing at the submarine with its tentacles, before it fires a burst of ink and swims away from the underwater vessel.
Although the great white shark has a fearsome reputation, in a straight fight it is outclassed by the orca. Not only are orcas much bigger, they are also smarter. Great whites are now known to be warm blooded but orcas still have much higher metabolic rates because they breathe air.
The colossal squid, with its half-ton mass and razor-sharp tentacle hooks, seems pretty fierce. But new research suggests that the school-bus sized cephalopods are actually pretty mellow.
Sperm whales dive to great depths (to more than 2 km or 1.4 mi deep) to catch one of their favorite foods: giant squid.
The preliminary reading indicated the jumbo squid had a bite force of more than a thousand pounds (more than 455 kilograms)—stronger than the killer jaws of the hyena, though not quite as strong as a crocodile, according to Barr, who specializes in animal bite forces.
Colossal squid live in Antarctic waters, but may come as far north as the southern waters of New Zealand. They live at depths of 1000 metres or more.