Squids are among the fastest swimmers, yielding only to such sprinters as swordfish, tuna and dolphins. The squid is one of the most unusual sea creatures. He has not one but three hearts. Despite the large size, the squid has absolutely no bones. Dragged to the land, these animals turn into jellies.
It turns out that some species of squid can travel through the air? And do not just jump out of the water for a short distance, namely fly, no worse than the famous flying fish. To do this, they are properly dispersed under water, throwing excess liquid from the mantle cavity through a special funnel, pulling out the tentacles, and wrapping the fin around the tail end and pressing firmly against the body. In this position, the aquatic environment practically does not exert resistance to the dispersed animal.
The external distinctive features of squid squad members are the missile form of the mantle, the presence of a pair of fins and ten limb-tentacles, among which four pairs of arms and a pair of elongated tentacles armed with chitinous rings, which in some squids are converted into hooks with age .
Squids contain a lot of substances useful for the body. Include them in the menu will be useful to everyone who follows his figure (due to low caloric content), actively engaged in sports (protein is the best building material for muscles, and also for those who carefully monitor their appearance (calcium, phosphorus and selenium contained in Squids, improve the condition and structure of hair, nails and teeth.) And do not forget: this product has a lot of iodine, which is especially important for residents of the central strip of Russia.
Kalmar Octopoteuthis deletron, living at a depth of up to 800 meters, is characterized by a very short period of puberty. Therefore, the males developed a strategy of reproduction, in which they do not understand who in front of them is a female or another male. Meeting in the darkness of the squid of its species of any gender, they attack it and smear with spermatophores, that is capsules with spermatozoa. The squid has excellent eyesight. His eyes are similar to the eye of a man, and for certain functions – they are even better. Some squid have one eye several times larger than the other, each of them being adapted to a different intensity of light. The eyes of a giant squid about the size of two soccer balls folded together.
Externally, giant squid are similar to their smaller oceanic relatives, but their dimensions are truly grandiose. The largest of the specimens found was 18 m long, most of which (12 m) fell on the tentacles. Perhaps some species of giant squid live at a very deep depth and can reach a length of more than 30 m, which makes them the longest animals in the world.
Divers sinking near the coast of California determined that the bottom area where the L.opalescens squid spawned was about 1600 square kilometers, and for 1 square meter of the bottom there were more than 10,000 capsules-eggs. Clutches with a diameter of more than three meters were found in the Bahamas region. The squid has blue blood. In the literal sense of the word. The fact is that the blood of squid instead of hemoglobin contains hemocyanin, with copper as a metal.
Giant squid feed on small fish and their smaller relatives, living, like them, in the depths. Being inactive animals, giant squid is most likely not capable of actively pursuing large, mobile prey. They themselves often become a victim of sperm whales, and young squid are often eaten by sharks. The color of squid is diverse. Some deep-water forms are transparent, like glass, and are equipped with luminous organs.
There are only about 300 species of squid. Unlike animal meat, squid has less powerful fibers, so they prepare fairly quickly. To cook them for salad, it is enough to dip into water for 1-3 minutes (duration depends on the size of the carcass). And if you’re lucky enough to buy fresh squid, just put them down for 5 minutes in a hot boiling water and close the lid. By the time of this time they will be soft and juicy. If you are preparing a hot dish with squid, you need to add them at the very last turn – a few minutes before the end of cooking.
