Whale hunt giant squid like?

In the cold darkness of the Pacific, hiding thousands of giant squid - aggressive predators nearly 2 meters long and nearly half a pound weight that respected fishermen call " red devils ". However, they are still bait for others - sperm whales.

Sperm - the largest carnivore on earth - is very fond of giant squid (scientific name Dosidicus gigas), and they devour more than 100 billion kilograms a year, roughly equivalent to the total output of all fishermen in the world. However, how the giant squid fish is still a mystery.

Recently, with electromagnetic tags tracking their habits below hundreds of meters of water, scientists have discovered a form of " avoiding melons with coconut shells " of the ocean - where the squids run away from those relatively hot water on the surface so that it will accidentally get into the stomach of the whale.

Marine biologist William Gilly of Stanford University and his colleagues are tagging giant Bay squid in California Bay, and coincidentally, they found marine biologist Randall Davis from Texas A&M University with colleagues attached. cards for nearby sperm whales.

Sperm whales , a species that lives in New Zealand can consume up to a ton of food in a day. Adult males are about 60 feet long and females are up to 36. (Photo: Livescience)

"It's rare to find a place like California Bay where you can see both sperm whales and their prey," Davis said.

Research cards show that, during the day, giant ink usually spends three-quarters of its time at a depth of between 180 and 400 meters, but at night, they spend at least half of their time in shallow waters, above 180 meters. The only explanation for this is that at night, they emerge to hunt prey like small fluorescent fish and krill.

Meanwhile, three-quarters of the sperm whale is at a depth of 180 to 400 meters, regardless of day or night, " with ink or not ". "Perhaps that's the only way they can catch these squid," Davis said.

Bill Gilly , a biology research professor at Stanford Hopkins Marine is raising the giant squid caught in the Gulf of California of Baja Mexico in 2003. One of the Pacific's largest marine mammals. This giant squid species can dive as deep as 1,300 feet while chasing prey (Photo: Livescience)

T. An