![]() ![]() The Humboldt Squid are found throughout the Sea of Cortez with a major concentration from Central Baja California to the Guaymas Basin. Individuals in this species occasionally strand themselves on beaches, by the hundreds. They communicate by using their chromatophores to change color. They travel in groups of up to 1,200 individuals. They have the ability to breach to avoid predators. In turn they are preyed upon by fur seals, striped marlin, swordfish, large sharks, sperm whales, and short finned pilot whales. They will also eat juveniles of their own species. They are highly aggressive predators, feeding on amphipods, copepods, fish, pelagic red crabs, euphausids, octopus, shrimp, and other squid. They are vertical migrators that spend daylight hours at depths between 800 m (2,625 feet) and 1,200 m (3,935 feet) and ascend at night and are found from the surface to 200 m (655 feet) for feeding. ![]() Humboldt Squid are generally found in the open ocean. Humboldt Squid are the largest species in the Ommastrephidae Family, with a maximum mantle length of 1.5 m (5 feet) and can weigh up to 50 kg (110 pounds). This red color and their aggressive behavior has lead to the local name Diablo Rojo (Red Devil). They are reddish brown to dark brown in color, but quickly turn red when distressed, such as when caught by fishermen. There are small photophores on the ventral surface of the arms and body. The arms of adult squid have 100 to 200 suckers per arm. Their arms are about half as long as the head and mantle and their fins are half the length of the body. The Humboldt Squid have strong, muscular, cylindrical bodies that taper posteriorly. There are 3 global members of the Dosidicus Genus. The Humboldt Squid, Dosidicus gigas (d’Orbigny, 1835), is a member of the Ommastrepihidae Family of Ommastrephid Squid that is also known as the Jumbo Flying Squid and in Mexico as diablo rojo and calamar giants. Caught from coastal waters off Point Palmilla, Baja California Sur, December 2008. ![]() Caught from coastal waters off Point Palmilla, Baja California Sur, May 2004. Collected off the beach Cabo Real, Baja California Sur, January 2020 Length: 40 cm (16 inches). Humboldt Squid, Dosidicus gigas, juvenile. Humboldt Squid, Dosidicus gigas, juvenile. Beach wash-up at Cero Colorado, Baja California Sur, January 2007.
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