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Top 10 Animals After Dark: Humboldt Squid
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#10 - When Humboldt Squid Squirm

By Jessika Toothman

Humboldt squid (Jumbo squid) sink to watery depths during the day, but at night they rise to the surface for a feeding frenzy — and that's not a show to be missed. These marine mammoths are powerful scavengers, with incredible low-light vision and an interesting ability to alter their appearance through bioluminescence. They can change color rapidly from deep red to pearly white, and although researchers are unsure exactly what these chromatic alterations mean, they do provide these jumbo cephalopods with a measure of camouflage, both from predators and prey alike.

Humboldt squid have been known to attack humans, especially if provoked by the excitement of a three-course meal created from the discards of nightly fishing expeditions. Opportunistic and cannibalistic, nothing is off-limits for a famished Humboldt squid.

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