crippled individuals and used them for bait. A number of these giants have been brought into museums, and others, stranded on beaches after storms, have been measured and recorded by reliable observers. Architeuthis of the North Atlantic waters is known to reach a total length of 55 feet. The longest arms of this specimen are 35 feet, while the length of the body from tip of tail to the base of the arms is 20 feet. The greatest circumference of the body is 12 feet. Sperm whales which feed upon smaller squid have often been locked in battle with these giants. The skin of these whales is sometimes heavily marked with circular scars caused by the suckers of the squid.
The octopus does not reach a very large size. The largest known species occurs on the west coast of North America where, in Alaska, Octopus punctatus attains a length of 16 feet or a radial spread of nearly 28 feet. However, the arms are very small in diameter, and a specimen of such long proportions has a body length of not more than a foot. The octopus occasionally found in the Lower Florida Keys is usually less than three feet in radial spread. A dead specimen cast on a beach near Nassau, Bahama Islands, was reported to have an arm length of five feet, and it was estimated that the entire creature weighed about 200 pounds. This, however, is without verification. Recent reports of octopus holes 100 feet across seen in the Bahamas from the air were made by untrained observers. There is no satisfactory evidence that any of these species of Octopus has ever intentionally attacked man, or that any person has ever been seriously injured by one. The octopus is a rather sluggish and timid creature, seeking shelter in holes and crevices among the rocks, and is usually small. It feeds mainly on bivalve mollusks but will also eat snails, fish and crustacea. Its hideouts along the shore can usually be detected by the presence of empty shells.
Locomotion among the cephalopods varies from a slow, “tentacle-walking” pace, both in and out of water, to the rapid, jet-propulsion darts which are so characteristic of the squid. The so-called aerial “flight” of squid, like that of the flyingfish, is actually a gliding operation and largely depends upon the initial speed attained under water. Squid have frequently landed on the decks of ships a dozen or more feet above the surface of the ocean. When a school of squid is alarmed by an approaching ship or by marauding fish, the fleeing squid dart from the water simultaneously and all in one direction rather than individually fanning out in several directions in the manner of flying fish.
The squid darts backward, forward, or in any other direction by means of the reaction of the jet of water which is ejected with great force from the siphon, and direction of movement is controlled by the bending of the siphon. Even when it is confined to a limited space, as in a fishpound, it is not an easy matter to capture it with a dip-net, so rapid is its movement.
