Orange County Register

Ten ”giant squid” were caught Tuesday night by fishermen off Huntington Beach, and might be part of an influx of the massive creatures that can grow to six feet in length and weigh more than 100 pounds.

Eight were caught from one boat and two from another, said Natalie Brown of the Newport sportfishing company, Davey’s Locker.

A number of the giants, also called jumbo Humboldt squid,  washed up in La Jolla on Saturday.

The fish were caught Tuesday night using “jigs,” or three-pronged hooks that likely look like fish to the squid, Brown said. The fishermen were after barracuda but hauled in squid instead.

The squid move around — and resist being caught — by jetting water through their siphons.

“When they propel themselves, that’s where you get the action from,” said Norris Tapp, captain of the Freelance out of Davey’s Locker from which two squid were caught. “It’s fun to catch them, a lot of fun.”

Fishermen on the other boat, the Nautilus out of Newport Landing Sportfishing, hauled in the other eight. 

Scientists who study the Humboldt squid say they appear periodically in large numbers off Southern California for reasons that still aren’t clear. And while they grow bigger farther south, they are typically in the 3-foot, 50-pound range off Southern California.

Tapp said the squid caught from his boat were likely about 15 pounds and four to five feet long.

They are thought by some to be brought north with warm water, but Eric Hochberg, curator at the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History who has studied the squid, says they’ve been seen when waters were cool as well.

Mass strandings have been happening in La Jolla since 2002, Hochberg said, and might be related to the squids’ penchant for grunion; they could be pursuing the grunion too close to shore, then getting rolled ashore by the surf.

Humboldt became stranded on Orange County shores in 2005 (above).

The stranding in La Jolla on Saturday made some wonder whether it was somehow related to an offshore earthquake that morning. But while no one can be sure, Hochberg and other scientists said they thought a connection was unlikely.

(Photo of Eric Norgard with one of eight squid caught aboard the Nautilus Tuesday night, courtesy Davey’s Locker. Register photo of dead Humboldt at Crystal Cove in 2005 by Kevin Sullivan.)

Latest posts:

You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.