Massive Squid Washes Up on Beach in Quake Aftermath

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

Massive Squid Washes Up on Beach in Quake Aftermath

Jumbo Humboldt squid wash up minutes after 4.0 earthquake hit off the coast of La Jolla

It was an odd start to the morning in La Jolla. First residents were jolted out of bed at 7.34 a.m. by a 4.0 magnitude earthquake that was centered 19 miles out to sea.

“I was having coffee up on the balcony and I felt it shaking,” Kate Lutkemeier said.

She wasn’t the only one.

“I heard my doors and windows rattling, thinking that somebody was trying to get in my front door actually,” La Jolla resident Mary Skeen said.

The quake was felt all over the county, which isn’t uncommon in San Diego -- but what happened just minutes later was a little fishy.

“We just got here about 15 minutes ago and Lilly, what did you see on the beach?” John Feher asked his little daughter. “Squid, squid, squid, squid, squid.” she replied.

Dozens of dazed Humboldt squid which were roughly three-to-four feet long and weighed close to 40 pounds were flapping around on La Jolla Shores beach.

“It’s like their equilibrium is all messed up and they don’t know what they’re doing and they can’t back out there,” Bill Baumann said. “It was like they got -- I don’t know -- all shook up.”

It didn’t take long for the seagulls to swoop in and start feeding on the squid, so beachgoers ran to the rescue and tried frantically to save them by throwing them back in the water. That proved to be a difficult task for several reasons -- they were extremely heavy, very slippery, and when the good Samaritans did manage to get them back them in water, the squid didn’t know where to go and kept washing back up.

“Some people were saying it was the earthquake this morning that caused them to get disoriented but who knows? Feher said.

He wasn’t the only person to mention that theory.

“A state guy was out and said the earthquake caused (it),” Baumann said.

Lifeguard Sgt. David Rains said that is one of several possibilities -- there are a lot of fishing boats in the area so there is a lot of fish activity and those kind of creatures always follow the food supply. He also said there have been a lot of water inversions and the water has turned from warm to cold -- but he doesn’t know for sure.

“Why are they here? Why are the squid here? I can’t honestly tell you,” Sgt. Rains said. “I don’t know if it’s tied or not to the earthquake.”

According to the lifeguard, swimmers should be wary of the creatures and keep their distance.

“The Humboldt squid can be very big and very powerful and they may be dangerous,” Sgt. Rains said. “It’s just something I wouldn’t mess with until you’re sure that it’s dead. They’ve got a lot of suckers and claws and a parrot like beak and they can inflict some damage.”

A spokesman for Scripps Institution of Oceanography said at this point they do not see a connection between the squid and the earthquake, but plan to look into it. Dozens of squid washing up at the same time is unusual but it has happened before, according to Sgt. Rains. But Mary Skeen said it is a first for her.

“I have never seen squid in the 42 years that I’ve lived here on the shores in La Jolla,” she said.

For now there are more questions than answers; did the earthquake cause the squid to wash up or was it simply a coincidence? Just ask the little girl who helped daddy push some alien looking creatures back out to sea.

“Is it a mystery?” Feher asked his little daughter Lilly.

“Yeah,” she replied

http://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/Giant...al-Quake--.html

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

Giant squid are purported to be among the most vicious predators in the seas - no way I go swimming in those waters.

Not the biggest of giant squid though - there are a couple of deep water ones that are a lot bigger than that.

[HAL 9000 96]

Humboldt squid I hear to be aggressive when being fished. Where there any takers for giant calamari rings?

[Nagishkaw 510]

0i!

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

Humboldt squid I hear to be aggressive when being fished. Where there any takers for giant calamari rings?

I told my wife. She wants to drive to San Diego right away. She loves "pusit".

[HAL 9000 96]

[Nagishkaw 510]

Connie doesn't have to go fishing anymore.

[Nik+Heather 121]

So I thought, "I'll click the link, there's probably some totally gross picture of a gigantic squid" The best I could see (without installing plugins) was one that was barely bigger than a seagull. So much for the "Massive" squid washing up on the beach.

HMPH. HMPH, I say!

[Ban Hammer 12,836]

Connie doesn't have to go fishing anymore.

[Hannah+Vito 0]

from what we can see online (cos hubby noticed nothing and he goes down and back to san diego for work) is it may of happened on saterday. he checked for recent earthquake activity near la joia or how ever you spell it and there seems to be one for this past saterday at that time. but till we saw this we never knew about the squid either. guess we need to watch more local news

[100% Al Ahly Fan 53]

So I thought, "I'll click the link, there's probably some totally gross picture of a gigantic squid" The best I could see (without installing plugins) was one that was barely bigger than a seagull. So much for the "Massive" squid washing up on the beach.

HMPH. HMPH, I say!

I wasn't that impressed either.

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

So I thought, "I'll click the link, there's probably some totally gross picture of a gigantic squid" The best I could see (without installing plugins) was one that was barely bigger than a seagull. So much for the "Massive" squid washing up on the beach.

HMPH. HMPH, I say!

I wasn't that impressed either.

Thirty-five to forty pounds for one squid is a lot bigger than the one to two pound whole frozen squid you find in your local Asian market. They does get much bigger in the deeper ocean, say the Marianas Trench.

[100% Al Ahly Fan 53]

Ewwwww.....so could have done without THAT visual!!