What is the colossal squid?

0:46 Welcome to Science is Not Boring by kidopoly.com. I'm Mira. And I'm Finn. Before we dive in, we have some massive shout-outs today. A big hello to Hugo and his sister Charlotte in Iowa, who listen to all three shows every day. We are so incredibly lucky to have you tuning in. Hugo asked us for an episode all about today's creature, so this one is dedicated to you both.

1:11 And a huge high five to Landon and his brother Lincoln in upstate New York, who listen on the way to and from school and asked all about the giant squid. We hope you have the best time listening on your drive today.

1:24 Since you both love deep-sea monsters, today we're going even bigger into the most mysterious parts of the ocean. Oh, and if you haven't already, tap follow wherever you're listening so you never miss an episode. So, what exactly is this giant creature? Picture this: an underwater giant with eyes the size of soccer balls, weighing as much as a grizzly bear, and armed with tentacles covered in razor-sharp, swiveling hooks.

1:52 Wait, swivelling hooks? That sounds like an alien!

1:57 It's completely real. Today we are exploring the deep, freezing mysteries of the colossal squid.

2:04 I have a feeling I'm going to need to hide behind my microphone for this one.

2:07 To find the colossal squid, we have to travel to the bottom of the world. Imagine plunging into the freezing, icy waters of the southern ocean around Antarctica. Going down, down, down. How far down are we talking? I don't like the cold. We are talking up to 7,000 feet deep in total darkness where the water is barely above freezing.

2:31 The pressure down there would crush a normal submarine. And that is exactly where the colossal squid lives. It is officially the heaviest invertebrate on planet Earth.

2:43 Okay, I need numbers. How colossal is a colossal squid?

2:47 Are you ready for this? A full-grown colossal squid can stretch up to 46 feet long. Whoa! That's like the length of an entire school bus! Exactly! And they can weigh nearly 1,100 pounds. That's about the weight of a grand piano, or a massive Kodiak bear.

3:08 A swimming piano with tentacles? No thank you. How does it even swim being that heavy?

3:13 They actually have a special chemical called ammonia in their bodies, which helps them float. Sort of like a built-in life jacket. Otherwise, being that heavy, they would just sink right to the bottom. But because it lives so incredibly deep in those icy, dangerous waters, humans almost never see them alive.

3:33 So how do we actually know they are real if they hide in the deep dark ocean?

3:38 That is where the story gets really wild. It involves a massive predator, a deep sea battle, and a very surprising discovery made over a hundred years ago in the year 1925. Ooh, a deep sea battle. Tell me what happened. Back in 1925, marine biologists didn't have submarines that could go miles deep into the ocean.

4:01 But they did have one major clue to what lived down there: sperm whales.

4:06 Wait, why sperm whales? I thought we were talking about squids.

4:10 Because sperm whales are the colossal squid's biggest predator. Sperm whales take huge breaths at the surface and dive thousands of feet down into the pitch black just to hunt them. And in 1925, some scientists were examining the stomach of a sperm whale.

4:28 Ew! Wait, they were looking inside the stomach. That sounds so stinky.

4:35 It definitely was, but it paid off. Inside that whale's stomach, they found two enormous, strange squid tentacles that didn't match any known species. That was the very first time the colossal squid was identified by science.

4:53 That is so gross. But also kind of awesome?

4:57 It was, but for the next 80 years, scientists mostly just found bits and pieces of these squids, like their hard parrot-like beaks sitting in whale stomachs. Nobody could find a complete, fully grown one floating in the wild.

5:13 80 years? That's a long time to just be looking at whale leftovers. I would have given up.

5:20 I know! But then came February 2007. A New Zealand fishing boat called the San Aspiring was sailing in the freezing Ross Sea near Antarctica. Imagine huge icebergs, freezing winds, and giant waves crushing against the side of the boat. What were they doing out there in the freezing cold? The crew, led by Captain John Bennett, was fishing for a deep-sea fish called the Antarctic toothfish.

5:49 They were winching their heavy fishing line up from thousands of feet below.

5:53 Oh boy, what came up on the line?

5:56 As the line finally reached the surface, the crew looked over the edge of the boat and gasped. Hooked on their line was a massive toothfish, but something else was wrapped tightly around it. A bright red, alien-looking monster. The colossal squid! It came up for a snack. Yes, the squid was literally eating the toothfish as it was being pulled up.

6:22 It was a completely intact, nearly 1,100-pound colossal squid. What did they do? Did it attack the boat like the kraken? No, it didn't attack. The crew realised how incredibly rare and important this was for science. They carefully stopped winching and spent two long freezing hours manoeuvring this massive beast into a cargo net to safely bring it aboard.

6:50 Two hours just to get it out of the water? That must have been exhausting.

6:55 Exactly! That very squid is now perfectly preserved and on display at the Topapa Museum in New Zealand. Millions of people have gone to see it, and studying it revealed its most terrifying weapon.

7:09 Please tell me it doesn't shoot lasers.

7:11 No lasers, but close. Giant squids just have suckers with little teeth on their tentacles. But the colossal squid has 25 rotating hooks that can swivel 360 degrees on the ends of its tentacles. They look like little curved tiger claws.

7:33 So once they grab something, there is literally no escape. Precisely!

7:39 They wait in the dark, ambush their prey, and those razor-sharp hooks lock in so their food can't swim away. But the most mind-blowing fact about the colossal squid isn't its sharp hooks or its massive weight. It's the eyes.

7:55 How big are we talking? Like the size of baseballs? Bigger, much bigger.

8:01 The eyes of a colossal squid are eleven inches across. 11 inches? That's the size of a dinner plate. Or a soccer ball. Exactly! They are the largest eyes of any animal in the whole animal kingdom. And the pupil alone, the dark part in the centre that lets light in, is over three inches wide.

8:26 Why on earth do they need eyes that big? Does it help them read books in the dark?

8:31 Close. It helps them survive. Down at 3,000 feet, it is completely pitch black. But when a massive sperm whale swims through the water to hunt them, the whale disturbs tiny plankton in the water.

8:45 Oh, so the plankton lights up like little underwater fireflies. I learned about that. It's called bioluminescence.

8:53 Yes, exactly! And those massive soccer ball-sized eyes are so incredibly sensitive. They can see that faint glowing outline of a diving sperm whale from over a football field away.

9:06 That is brilliant! It's like an early warning system for predators. The squid sees the glowing whale and has time to sneak away.

9:14 Exactly! The colossal squid shows us just how incredibly animals adapt to the most extreme environments on Earth. There is still so much we don't know about the deep ocean. It is truly a world of wonder. Alright, Finn, time for the quiz.

9:30 Are you ready? Okay, I'm ready. My brain is packed with squid facts.

9:36 First question. In what year did scientists first identify the colossal squid? Next one, where exactly did scientists find those very first colossal squid tentacles? Question three. How big can the colossal squid's eyes get? Here's number four. In 2007, fishermen from which country finally caught a complete specimen?

10:13 Last question. What unique weapon does the colossal squid have on its tentacles that giant squids do not? Great job! Let's see how you did. The first answer is it was 1925. For question two, they found them inside a sperm whale's stomach. The answer for question three is eleven inches across, about the size of a soccer ball.

10:44 For question four, the fishermen were from New Zealand. And the final answer is it has razor-sharp swivelling hooks.

10:53 I am still thinking about those soccer ball eyes and the swiveling hooks. I mean, an animal the size of a school bus with tiger claws on its tentacles. That is just unreal. Right?

11:07 And the fact that we barely know anything about it is wild. It just goes to show that you don't have to go to outer space to find aliens. The deep ocean is full of completely bizarre and wonderful creatures that we are only just beginning to understand.

11:23 I completely agree. If you thought learning about the Colossal Squid was awesome, please leave us a five-star review. Just scroll down on your app and tap the stars.

11:32 And don't forget to tap follow, so our next deep sea adventure pops up automatically. Oh, and we have sister shows too. History and philosophy is not boring, and maths is not boring. Go give those a listen and a follow as well.

11:48 Want your name on the show? Like Hugo, Charlotte, Landon, and Lincoln? Send us an email at hello at kidopoly.com.

11:56 We love hearing from you. Thanks for exploring the deep with us today. See you next time on Science is Not Boring. Bye!