Scubaism

It was always thought that sperm whales captured squid by knocking them out with powerful ultrasound shrieks then scooping them up. But a study done at the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, suggests thats not true and that squid aren’t even aware of being targetted by ultrasound.

The researchers played recorded ultrasound whale clicks to several long-finned squid (Loligo pealeii) swimming in a water tank. The ultrasound clicks were broadcast at up to 226 decibels, which is about the most intense whale echolocation click a squid would be exposed to in the wild. If the clicks were at a frequency humans could hear, they would be as loud as a rifle shot heard from three feet in front of the muzzle.

But not only were the squid not knocked senseless, they did not react at all to the ultrasound bursts, and actually swam in front of the speaker as if nothing were happening.

The other theory is that when whales twist their bodies just before snatching a squid in their jaws, this twisting maneuver appears to somehow allow the whales to create a powerful suction with their mouths which they use to vacuum in squid from up to three feet away.