West Seattle Blog…

8-foot, 100-pound squid caught off West Seattle’s Seacrest Pier

July 4, 2009 at 4:28 pm | In West Seattle news, Wildlife |

(photo added 7:27 pm, courtesy of Jade)
So says KING5.com, with the photo to prove it. The report says it’s believed to be a Humboldt Squid; this info says those squid used to range further south. ADDED 5:21 PM: Here’s a larger photo from the KOMO website. ADDED 7:27 PM: Thanks to Jade for sending the photo added above - she took it while waiting for the Water Taxi on Friday, apparently after a state crew took the squid away.

13 Comments

1. That’s some serious calamari!

   Comment by jwws — July 4, 09 4:31 pm #

2. I was checking this out waiting for the water taxi yesterday. I am glad to see my estimate was right!

   Comment by wisepunk — July 4, 09 4:55 pm #

3. Though common names are by nature not easily debated, the squid typically referred to as “giant squid” is genus Architeuthis, not Dosidicus gigas - which is also referred to as jumbo squid or Humboldt squid.

   Yeah, I know. It’s still giant, for a squid - just not the 46 ft you can get in architeuthis.

   Of course, neither compares to the cephalopod starring in “Mega Shark versus Giant Octopus”

   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fa7ck5mcd1o

   From the trailer, one of the appendages seems to be a squid rather than an octopus, but I’m guessing this film isn’t a documentary.

   Comment by MAS — July 4, 09 5:33 pm #

4. hope they didn’t keep it.

   Comment by k — July 4, 09 6:51 pm #

5. Conflicting accounts. The KING story says they “released it” and then a government crew did something with it … but the KOMO shot to which we linked includes a caption saying it was already dead. I’ve just received a few photos from someone who says she saw it while awaiting the Water Taxi yesterday so I’m about to add at least one of those — Tracy

   Comment by WSB — July 4, 09 6:54 pm #

6. Why kill such a beautiful creature. I hope the killers are proud of themselves.

   Comment by Senseless — July 4, 09 6:59 pm #

7. I dive at Seacrest and it would have been really cool to see this creature underwater in its habitat than laying lifeless on the shore…

   Comment by Seacrest Diver — July 4, 09 7:34 pm #

8. A note - a short reader-posted story on the KOMO site says the squid was already dead when hooked:
   http://www.komonews.com/younews/49892652.html
   I hope to reach somebody next week to seek out an official account of the circumstances, but for the moment, as the cliche phrase goes, “details are sketchy” - TR

   Comment by WSB — July 4, 09 7:46 pm #

9. Seacrest Diver: You need to to be careful around Humboldt squid. They can be very aggressive.

   Comment by wseye — July 4, 09 11:34 pm #

10. A note - a short reader-posted story on the KOMO site says the squid was already dead when hooked:

    So will they be doing a squid-o-topsy to determine cause of death?

    Comment by Joe Schmoe — July 5, 09 5:20 am #

11. we saw it yesterday also while waiting for the watertaxi - it was just sitting on the top of the water. It was huge from our vantage point! The kayakers were able to get up close and personal and it didn’t respond at all so I am sure it was already dead.

    Comment by pam — July 5, 09 8:43 am #

12. for all who love the idea of discovering squid in puget sound… pick up the book ‘the highest tide’ by jim lynch

    Comment by lina — July 6, 09 9:46 am #

13. My wife and I paddled past the squid in a double kayak Friday morning. I think the folks at Alki Kayak Tours went out and picked that up for the state crew. It was dead in the water…and pretty impressive regardless.

    Comment by dcagen — July 6, 09 10:40 pm #

Sorry, after 3 weeks of commentlessness, comment time is over.