The appearance of the giant deep-sea king squid on the beach in Fukui Prefecture, Japan, caused a lot of panic in the local area, because after the last time the deep-sea king squid appeared on the beach, it was followed by an earthquake disaster. Animals are much more sensitive to natural disasters than humans, and some of their abnormal behaviors may be a precursor to natural disasters, so will the deep-sea king squid appear in Japan this time be a special omen?
Deep-sea animals are spotted on Japanese beaches
According to fishermen, they saw a very large white shadow in the water, and when they looked closer, it was almost impossible to appear in the shallow sea area. At first, the fishermen thought that the body of the squid that had died accidentally was washed up on the shore, but then they found that the squid was not dead. This strange phenomenon naturally attracted people's attention, and the relevant departments immediately rushed to the scene to protect the deep-sea king squid and sent it to the Echizen Matsushima Aquarium. Is there anything magical about the Deep Sea King Squid? Why are people so interested in it?
The great king squid is a very mysterious deep-sea cephalopod mollusk, which is mysterious because many of the early "sea monster" legends were based on the deep-sea king squid. This terrifying-looking monster can reach up to 13 meters in length and weigh up to 270 kilograms. According to the calculations of scientists, the maximum body length of the king squid can exceed 20 meters and weigh more than 1,000 kilograms. The body of the great king squid resembles a pointed cone with two protruding fleshy fins at the top. Underneath its head are its main attack organs, 4 pairs of long, powerful tentacles. These tentacles are densely packed with round suction cups with ring-shaped teeth inside them that can be used to immobilize the body and attack prey. The main food of the king squid is the small fish and shrimp in the sea, they have no interest and strength to attack human fishing boats, and their natural enemy is the sperm whale, which has been found more than once in the body of the sperm whale.
The Great King Squid is the prototype of many "sea monsters"
The king squid mainly lives in the sea at depths of 200-1000 meters, and is not a typical deep-sea animal, but its movements are mysterious and rarely appear in coastal areas. Until the great king squid was actually discovered, people could only hear about them in their nautical diaries and sea monster legends. In the mid-16th century, a "Norwegian sea monster" was popularized, its body was as large as an island, and several stout tentacles were higher than the mast of a ship, which could easily drag sailors into the sea. These legends naturally have a certain element of exaggeration, but there is no denying that there is indeed a frightening mysterious animal in the sea. By the 19th century, human navigation technology gradually matured, and many strange legends about the charm of the fish were also broken. In 1861, the carcass of the great king squid was found on the coast of Newfoundland, an animal that has always existed in legend, and the body was later made into specimens and preserved.
Whether the appearance of the great king squid is a precursor to an earthquake
Since the great king squid is so rare, is it a harbinger of what is the big event in Japan this time? We all know that animals are very sensitive to changes in the natural environment, such as the abnormal mass migration of birds, fish schools, and the restlessness of pigs, cattle and sheep in the home, which are often considered to be precursors to earthquakes or other natural disasters.
As early as 2016, there was a stranding of the king squid in Japan, and coincidentally, there was a real earthquake in the local area shortly after, and people have linked it to the earthquake ever since. In addition to the great king squid, there is also a very famous earthquake fish, which is a large band fish with a body length of nearly 4 meters and a weight of 300 kilograms, because it often appears at the same time as the great earthquake, so the earthquake fish is also called the messenger of the devil. Earthquake fish should actually be called royal fish, they are the world's largest dura bony fish, mostly inhabit the deep sea, in the accidental death may be washed by the waves to the shore.
Whether animals can predict natural disasters
According to some Japanese experts, the appearance of earthquake fish and king squid may be due to changes in the ocean, causing them to come to shallow seas, but this change is not certainly a precursor to earthquakes or other natural disasters. On the other hand, earthquakes have occurred in not all places where these deep-sea animals appear. In 2019, a woman in Hamada City, Japan, found the body of a 6-meter-long king squid on the shore, and finally deduced that it should have been washed into Japan by the Tsushima Warm Current. Also in 2019, fishermen in Toyama Prefecture, Japan, also caught two huge earthquake fish, but there were no natural disasters since then.
It turns out that the appearance of certain animals alone does not mean that a disaster has arrived, it may be just an accident. On the other hand, there are more than 5 million earthquakes of all sizes in the world every year, of which only a few can really affect our lives, even if the animals are indeed driven offshore by the earthquake of the seabed, for us living on land, it may only be a sensorless earthquake, and there is no impact. For Japan, which is in the volcanic seismic belt, the occurrence of earthquakes can be said to be commonplace, and the Japanese people pay more attention to earthquakes, often associating some phenomena with earthquakes, in fact, many of them have no scientific basis.
In short, for this abnormal phenomenon, we should maintain a normal mentality and not panic too much. In addition, it is worth mentioning that the king squid is sour and difficult to eat, so there is no specific commercial value at present.