Squid | featured news

Scientists in California investigate why at least several hundred dead squid are washing ashore.

Word that a giant eyeball washed up on a South Florida has created a buzz on the Internet and in the marine biology community. The huge, blue eyeball may have come from a deep sea squid or a large sword fish, said Heather Bracken-Grissom, an assistant professor in the marine science program at Florida International University in Miami.

Scientists have discovered how two marine creatures are able to rapidly "switch" their colours - from transparent to reddish brown. The species, an octopus and a squid, use their adaptable camouflage to cope with changing light conditions in the deep ocean. The creatures' skins respond light that deep-sea predators produce to illuminate their prey.

Scientists who discovered a 150-million-year-old squid on a dig in Trowbridge, Wiltshire, use its ink to draw.