Giant Squid Seems Built For Speed

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A breakthrough video of a giant squid led Japanese biologists to conclude that the mysterious sea beast is capable of high-speed movement through the depths. "It struggled furiously to escape by spouting water from its funnel. This means they can actually swim pretty fast, in addition to their normal movement just drifting in deep waters," Tsunemi Kubodera, the research team's leader told reporters. The Japanese team hooked the squid south of Tokyo and captured it on camera as it was reeled in. Even though it put up a heck of a battle, the squid was killed in the process. The Times of London said Saturday that until now, scientists' knowledge of the giant squid was based on photographs and the tentacles of dead specimens when they happened to wash up onshore now and then. The 11 ½-foot long giant squid was not the largest ever recorded. That record belongs to a specimen found in 1887 that measured 60 feet from end to end; that's as tall as the average six-story building.