Straits Times, Singapore : Quest for the giant squid

By Chang Ai-Lien

HE HAS trawled the deepest, darkest ocean depths in search of an elusive giant.

But Dr Clyde Roper, giant squid-hunter extraordinaire, has yet to meet his quarry eye to eye.

500kg of calamari?
Not quite

More is probably known about the long-extinct dinosaur than the giant squid, which has so far eluded all attempts to study it in its natural habitat. This is what is known about the mystery creature of the deep.

• SPECIMENS of the giant squid are usually about 15 m long and weigh 500 kg.

However, there are records of one-tonne giants which were up to 18 m long.

They are the biggest known invertebrates on earth.

• Their eyes - the size of a human head - are also the largest among all animals.

• They are eating machines. Their sharp chitin beaks make quick work of deep-sea fish like hoki and orange roughy.

• They grow at a rapid rate - reaching maturity within a year but living for only a few years.

• They are found in all the world's oceans, but seem to prefer colder waters.

• The biggest specimens are females, which probably adapted to outgrow their sperm whale predators.

• They won't make a good calamari dish.

Scientists who have actually cooked and eaten their flesh say it is bitter and foul-tasting because of its high ammonia content.

The ammonia ions in their skin help the creatures float.

'It's a combination of size and mystery, something full of questions which we need the answers to.

'Some day, somebody is going to find it, I have no doubt about that, and I hope it's me,' said the expert in cephalopods - which include cuttlefish, octopus, nautilus and, of course, squid.

Despite hundreds of giant squid carcasses getting caught in deep-sea fishing nets, washing up on beaches or turning up in sperm whales' stomachs over the last two decades, the creature has yet to be seen alive in its natural habitat, and remains an enigma to scientists, he told The Straits Times.

Dr Roper, 65, is emeritus zoologist at the invertebrate zoology department in the Smithsonian Institute's National Museum of Natural History.

He is in Singapore for a week, following a world conference attended by about 150 cephalopod experts in Phuket, Thailand.

One of the world's giant squid pioneers, he has been on two multi-million-dollar expeditions, searching the deep seas off Portugal, the Gulf of California and 1 km-deep Kaikoura Canyon off New Zealand for the giant squid.

High-tech robotic and manned submersibles did not manage to catch a glimpse of the creature, although they searched depths of close to 1,000 m, he said.

Even efforts to locate them by attaching cameras to sperm whales - giant squids are their favourite food - were unsuccessful.

But the trips were by no means failures, he said.

'Every time we went down, we saw something new and exciting; the sea floor was covered with sponges, soft coral, crabs, shrimp and molluscs.

'Mount Everest could be hidden in some of these trenches; they're so deep. The deep sea is the largest ecosystem on earth, and we know so little about it. We can't stop exploring,' he said.

During his trip here, Dr Roper is giving two talks on his work on giant squids, organised by the National University of Singapore's University Scholars Programme, with the support of the Raffles Museum of Biodiversity Research.

While the giant squid has long been a staple of novels and horror movies, it is now catching the public's imagination in different ways, he added.

Children as young as four have donated money to help fund the search for the squid, while others have e-mailed him from all over the globe, suggesting ways to catch one.

'I have tried to bring the reality of the giant squid to the public, and show them that it's not a monster, and it's not out to get us.

'It's more of a hook, an icon that represents the hidden world down there,' he said.

His passion has influenced his dress sense - he turned up for this interview sporting red socks with images of octopuses on them.

And his enthusiasm for the tentacled creatures has also infected his wife of 45 years, Ingrid, who accompanies him on his trips.

'I've become a faithful volunteer,' she said with a laugh.

The countless hours spent poring over dead squid remains, or getting soaked in gore while sifting through sperm whale carcasses for partially-digested giant squid, have failed to dull his appetite for seafood.

'I like it all, I've even taught squid cooking on television,' he said.