Dancing with Demons
Posted By Scott Cassell on 15 December 2005
THE DEMON, ITSELF
After spending more time in the water with Giant Humboldt squid than anyone else in the world, (over 300 dives), I have come to know them in ways I never expected, as individuals. Although, I have probably not seen the same animal twice on more than one dive, but they are in fact personable, each having unique traits.
When I see Dosidicus gigas come into view, I have the same rush of impressions, every time. Speed. Grace. Lethality. Intelligence. Mortality.
Their eyes draw your attention quickly. They look at you. Understand, they look at YOU. They follow your every movement, studying you in an effort to catalogue you either as prey or threat. However, the stare seems even more intense that that. I have long felt they look at you with true curiosity. They seem to wonder what you actually are.
The beak of a Dosidicus gigas is large and very powerful. The edges are assharp as trauma shears and are capable of gouging out an orange-sized chunk of flesh, regardless of tissue make up. I have seen a five-foot Dosidicus gigas bite through the thick bone of a tuna head, skull and all, with minimal effort removing fist-sized portions with each bite.
To hold their prey item firmly, this squid has about 2,000 suction disks; each lined with chitenous ring teeth. Chitin is a material similar to that of fingernails and that of beetle exoskeletons (A polysaccharide). These chitenous ring teeth are needle sharp and very effective. Every suction disk has up to 36 of these teeth. That means a Humboldt squid employs as many as 72,000 teeth upon its hapless victims. Prey has little chance of escaping a Humboldt squid’s deadly embrace.
What is probably the most visually striking characteristic of the Dosidicus gigas are the chromatophores. These skin cells are transparent when contracted, allowing the bright white muscle tissue below to be clearly seen. When these cells are spread open, their deep red pigmentation completely covers the white muscle. Incredibly, each chromatophore is linked directly to the brain by the largest axons in the animal kingdom. That means Dosidicus gigas can ‘think’ his color and pattern change instantly. Their ability to change color from bright white to deep red can happen in one frame of film. That is 1 / 30th of a second!
Most engrossing, however, is the complexity of the patterns, speed of change and densities of color saturation. It is so complex it has been called a ‘language’. Although I do not completely subscribe to the idea of Dosidicus gigas has the intellect for a true language, it is clearly a complex communication. After all, it is thought that Dosidicus gigas only live for 400 to 500 days. That means that these magnificent animals, in just 1 ½ years, begin life as plankton (the size of a sesame seed), and grow to full size of more than eight feet long! With such an enormous growth rate, it is easy to see why they are so aggressive to feed. And aggressive they are.
Aggressive… Yet smart.
THE DESCENT
“LISTO!” I tell my two friendly Pangaderos as I prepare to roll into the water. Tossing my 10-pound weight over the side attached to a yellow nylon “down line” signals I am seconds away from entering the sea. Looking more like a space man than a SCUBA diver, I wear full coverage composite body panels with chain mail gloves, knees, and elbows made by my friend, Jeremiah Sullivan. A 250 foot long stainless steel cable is tightly rigged to my safety harness and the boat. On my back is the PRISM closed circuit rebreather capable of allowing my dive to exceed 5 hours at any depth, in my hands is a broadcast video camcorder, HID lights and lures (to attract passing squid into frame). Stage bottles are hung over the side at three levels in the water column in the event my CCR has any problems. Two bottles of breathing gas are strapped onto my CCR harness to help me reach the stage bottles in the event they are needed. If this gear sounds kinda excessive, believe me it isn’t.
I roll off the side of the tiny boat and softly hit the water with the most familiar of feelings. Warm water enters my suit with the occasional sting of tiny plankton jellies. “Good to be back home”, I thought.
The surface water is bright and blue, but below it appears black. On the shore is a mountain ridge just five miles away, creating a vast shadow onto and below the sea-surface. The shadow blocks the sub sea afternoon sunlight. Beyond that, pitch blackness... and demons.
I pass through the giant mountain shadow at 45 feet on my descent to 250 feet. It is like passing through the night terminator in spaceflight. The world seems to change and you feel very alone. Occasionally, I see Humboldt squid around me streaking by just on the edge of visibility. Although I cannot make them out clearly, I know what they are from experience. The five-foot squid create green-blue “tubes” of light as they disturb the bioluminescent plankton algae. The light tubes are wonders to behold. As I descend holding my down line past 80 fsw I can see what looks like the bottom of the sea coming up to meet me. It is a thick cloud of red-green plankton and my down line seems to just end at its edge. I transition to a foot down posture as my fins enter the cloud. Just as my chest enters the cloud, I see a huge squid head rise out of the gloom just feet away. He flashes from white to dark red creating the eerie image of an undersea lightening storm. My memory of reading “The Hounds of Baskerville” enters my mind. As my head enters the cloud, all goes dark. I can see my fingertips, but not much further. My body is tense from what I just saw, and I wonder what such a huge squid would do to me if it had the chance. It is times like this I wonder, “Why am I doing this?”
My descent continues and I turn on my halogen ‘descent light’. The light reflects on the plankton so intensely that I am reminded of driving a car in a blizzard with the bright lights on.“Better with the lights off” I surmise and turn it off. Again, all goes dark.
As I peer into the darkness, it suddenly appears different as I pass through the plankton cloud. The darkness has given way to a “black sky full of stars”. The water is black, but clear with perhaps 65 feet of visibility and I am surrounded by bioluminescent jellies. I have entered eternal darkness at 200 fsw and continue “falling”. A few moments later my cable pulls tight arresting my fall. I am dangling alone at 250 feet deep in darkness. I turn on my HID lights and power up my camera. I know they are close now.
What I saw next haunts me still. A large trail of bubbles originating from an unseen animal far below runs directly at me. I watch the bubble trail approach me then pass right through me eventually tracking into the distance behind me. A tinge of fear ran through my spine in a primeval flight response. “What the hell WAS that?” I thought. Hump back whales produce bubble streams effectively corralling herring into tight balls so they can feed on them and this looked just like it. My eyes strain to see the end of my lights, hoping to get a glimpse of the creature. I never did. A Sperm whale? A Pilot whale? Psuedorca? “God, please don’t let it be a Pseudorca!” I worried. That is the only animal here I would truly fear. They are suspect of at least one diver’s death here in the Sea Of Cortez, this Sea of Demons.
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