Research: Giant Squid

Giant Squid

There have been only fifteen recorded strandings and nine captures of Architeuthis around the coast of Britain and Ireland (Table 1, Figure 1), the most recent of which was a female squid caught off the west coast of Scotland in January 2002. Previously an immature female was stranded on a beach at Newburgh, 15 miles north of Aberdeen in January of 1998. It is noticeable from the data that most of the strandings and captures around Scotland have occurred during the winter months.

Number	Date	Area	ML (mm)	Sex	Type
1	1673	Dingle, Ireland			Stranded
2	1860	Hillswick, Shetland			Stranded
3	25/4/1875	Boffin Island			Caught
4	Oct 1880	County Clare			Stranded
5	1913	Bellmullet, Ireland			Sperm Whale
6	2/11/1917	Skateraw, Berwick			Stranded
7	1918	Kilkeel, Ireland			Stranded
8	Feb 1920	North Uist, Hebrides			Stranded
9	1921	Wick, Moray Firth			Stranded
10	24/01/1930	East Lothian	1422		Stranded
11	14/01/1933	Scarborough	1664		Stranded
12	37/31/1937	Bell Rock, off Abroath			Caught
13	02/10/1949	Shetland	1200		Stranded
14	30/11/1949	Nigg Bay, Aberdeen	1170	Female	Stranded
15	14/12/1951	Easthaven, Angus	1459		Stranded
16	01/02/1957	Rattaray Head	940		Trawl
17	19/11/1977	North Berwick	1610	Female	Stranded
18	08/01/1984	Cove Bay, Aberdeen	1750	Female	Stranded
19	29/01/1986	Scottish Coast	1450		Trawl
20	05/03/1987	Off Shetland	1110		Trawl
21	26/04/1995	W of Aran Isles	1028	Male	Trawl
22	24/06/1995	Porcupine Bank	975	Male	Trawl
23	25/06/1995	SW Aran Isles	1084	Male	Trawl
24	18/01/1998	Newburgh, Aberdeen	1220	Female	Stranded
25	10/01/2002	West of Hebrides		Female	Trawl

Giant squid records from around Britain. Numbers refer to the table above

This data forms part of a paper published in the Journal of Molluscan Studies.

Martin A. Collins (1998). A female giant squid (Architeuthis) stranded on the Aberdeenshire coast. J. Moll. Stud., 64, 489-492. Copyright Oxford University Press.