Squids have an unusual taste and are used in cooking as a main dish or as a side dish. However, they go to food in an already processed form, so not everyone knows how these marine animals look in nature.
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Instruction manual
1
Squids are part of a squad of decapod cephalopods, possess four pairs of tentacles, one of which is grasping, equipped with chitin rings. Over the years, rings turn into hooks and become quite a formidable weapon.
2
Squids are not large in size, usually they do not exceed 25-50 centimeters in length. It is these mollusks that are eaten, although there are giant squids that have serious sizes. The largest squid officially registered by scientists was 17.4 meters long from the back to the tip of the tentacles and weighed 500-600 kg. These sizes are comparable to about a five-story building. Thus, some mollusks can rightfully be called the largest animals living on earth.
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Squids have a dense body of cylindrical shape, have a pointed plate resembling an arrow in shape. These mollusks are excellent swimmers. Under water, they move with the help of a fin or in a reactive way, collecting water inside themselves and pushing it through a small nozzle.
4
Some medium-sized squids can reach speeds of up to 50 km / h, competing only with units from the inhabitants of the oceans, including dolphins, swordfish and tuna. To escape from predators, squids can jump out of the water, flying up to 50 meters through the air. Sometimes during the flight they fall on the deck of the ship, so sailors call them flying squids.
5
Squids live from 1 to 3 years, but giant species can live much longer. In case of danger, some of the mollusks eject an ink cloud, disorienting the predator and avoiding pursuit. In addition, an interesting fact is that squids have blue blood. This feature is inherent in them due to the content of copper in the blood.