Squid make the world go round

By Pia Tuominen

Squid (and many cephalopods) are fantastic and strange animals that hold a certain mystical power to them, not just because of their ecological significance that keeps environments thriving, but also because of their excellent cognitive abilities and vibrant social lives.

Looking at these prehistoric, deadpan creatures, with their conspicuous, glaring eyes, triangular fins, and their occasional fluorescence, they are nothing like the critters that us land-dwellers commonly see. In fact, the deeper one travels in the ocean, the weirder and more primitive the fauna looks. The largest squid ever recorded was approximately 13 meters long, 5.28 times larger than the world’s tallest living man’s height. The squids that grow to such egregious sizes populate the aphotic zone of the ocean, where not a single ray of light penetrates the crawling darkness.

The fearsome exterior of the giant squid has popularized it as a vicious monster in literature, film, and other media. A prevalent example of this would be the legendary kraken in Scandinavian folklore, a huge cephalopod notorious for tearing down large ships in its voracious hunger. Though the squid is a source of terror for numerous people, the less formidable squid that reside in the upper levels of the sea directly and indirectly affect our existence on land, and it is crucial to protect squid and their surrounding environment.

In many food webs, squid play roles of both predator and prey. Squid like to nibble on small fish and crustaceans, sometimes even other cephalopods, regulating the population of a wide variety of organisms. On the contrary, dolphins, whales, large fish (such as grouper or tuna), and cannibalistic squid partially rely on squid as a food source. Because of their role in the food web, squid can be considered more important to the ecosystem’s wellbeing than those who are at the top or bottom of the food chain as squid have more links to different species. In turn, a change in squid population could harm all of the aforementioned animals, many of those which humans frequently consume.

Along with being keystone species in a lot of ecosystems, squid are also behaviorally sophisticated, demonstrating communication skills that the IB approaches to learning would approve of and having brains almost as complex as dogs. Octopuses take the lead for cephalopods studied for their intelligence, but squid also have plenty of special talents that help them stand out.

The capabilities of a simple squid are not limited to their genetics like it would be for a frog or a ladybug. The animal is able to identify their own genes and change it to however they desire, interfering with their genetic code through the RNA. Their genetic-editing superpower could also be a reason for the lovely diversity of squid species, reaching from the centimetre-long pygmy squid to the enormous giant squid and colossal squid.

Squid have a very unique ability to camouflage themselves in their environment, despite being colorblind. They rapidly change their skin color and pattern to perfectly blend in with detailed backgrounds, keeping the illusion up even when they are moving. Additionally, squid can communicate with others of their kind even when camouflaged by changing the light patterns on their skin, which most predators cannot detect.

Of course, who could forget squids’ skill to release a bomb of dark (or glow-in-the-dark) ink to elude their hungry predators, or their ability to easily signal their thoughts and feelings to others just through their tentacles?

In fact, the hundreds of squid species all have their unique skill sets and characteristics, developed over some 500 million years. They are extremely resilient, and are prepared to face any challenge that the environment throws at them, which is what helped the cephalopod to thrive and survive far long before humans appeared on Earth. Their intelligent minds and dynamic skill sets are what create their elusive, mysterious image and they are incredible animals that we should protect.