This video was filmed on November 14, 2011 as part of the National Geographic Live! Lecture series at National Geographic Society headquarters in Washington, D.C.

Introduction

Brian Skerry is a photojournalist specializing in underwater and marine-related subjects and stories. Since 1998 Skerry has been a contributing photographer for National Geographic magazine, covering a wide range of assignments.

Outline

• Squid biology: life span and skin as a communication device (start-01:19 min.)
• Photographing a squid aggregation (01:20-02:07 min.)
• Photographing Humboldt squid (02:08-03:07 min.)

Strategies for Using Video in a Variety of Learning Environments

• Have students preview several of the videos and choose the one they find most inspiring. Have students describe in writing a conversation they might have with the speaker(s).
• Freeze the video on a relevant image. Have students observe details in the still image and jot down predictions of what the full video might address. Discuss students’ ideas before and after watching the video.
• Pose an open-ended question before students watch the video, and have them discuss their ideas before and after in small groups.
• Have students determine what they think the key message of this video is. Was the speaker effective in getting his or her message across?
• Show a short clip to engage students during class, and then have students watch the full video at home and write a paragraph responding to the content or a question you give them.
• Have students note statements that represent facts or opinions, including where it’s difficult to tell the difference. What further research might help distinguish facts and opinions? How might the speaker’s viewpoint compare with others’ viewpoints about a topic?

Transcript (English)

- This is a Caribbean reef squid floating or drifting just below the surface off the coast of Venezuela. And these are animals that begin their life as a tiny little egg, as we see in this photograph, you know, looking like some sort of a science fiction monster here. But squid actually, no matter what species, they only live about a year, maybe 18 months. They have a very short life. I've often referred to them as the James Dean of the sea. They live fast and die young. But they do a lot in that amount of time, and one of the most remarkable things about squid is their skin. Not only can they change color, like some animals can, but they can actually form patterns, body patterns, which is a form of communication. Amazing, each pattern that they form is a type of language, if you will, that they can communicate to their other brethren. And here we see a Caribbean reef squid demonstrating something called the lateral silver display. He's paired with a female, which we can't see in this photograph, but he's keeping his dark or pretty side, I guess, to the, to the female that he's with, and he's turning the other half of his body white to repel other males that might be thinking about stealing his girlfriend, I guess. And, similar behavior that I photographed off the Channel Islands in California a number of years ago. This happened a few nights before Christmas in December, at night. I had been waiting for two years to photograph this event, and then I got a call from a filmmaker friend of mine saying it was happening. So I went out there, and what I was trying to photograph was this mass aggregation that's known as the big bang, of these squid getting together to mate in huge numbers at about 120 feet off the Channel Islands. And they gather in these groups of hundreds, and the male will embrace the female. He'll wrap her up with his arms, and then the arms blush red, as you see the one in the foreground doing here. It's again, sort of a warning, scram, this is my girl. And then the females after will go down and lay an egg on the bottom in this huge mop that just sort of sways in the current. Pretty amazing. And probably the scariest animal that I've ever encountered in the ocean was this guy here, something called the Humboldt squid, dosidicus gigas, an animal that is known to grow to lengths of 13 feet, that travels in schools of thousands, has teeth lining its entire arms, all the eight arms and two tentacles, about 24,000 teeth in total. And its mouth is actually like a parrot, like a macaw that could take a quarter size chunk of meat out of their prey. These are animals that, when I read the literature before I went out to photograph 'em, it said they will eat anything that moves. So that was always comforting, of course, but I, this is one expelling a cloud of ink, sort of a defensive behavior, as I sort of came at 'em with my camera. I didn't actually have any real problems, but they are pretty scary.

Transcripción (Español)

- EL INCREÍBLE CALAMAR BRIAN SKERRY

- Este es un calamar de arrecife caribeño flotando a la deriva justo bajo la superficie, frente a la costa de Venezuela. Y estos son animales que comienzan su vida como un pequeño huevo, como vemos en esta fotografía, y se ven como un monstruo de ciencia ficción. De hecho, los calamares, sin importar la especie, solo viven cerca de un año, tal vez 18 meses. Tienen una vida muy corta. A menudo los llamo los James Dean del mar. Viven rápido y mueren jóvenes. Pero hacen mucho en ese tiempo, y una de las cosas más notables sobre los calamares es su piel. No solo pueden cambiar de color, como algunos animales, sino que pueden formar patrones corporales, lo cual es una forma de comunicación. Es increíble, cada patrón que forman es un tipo de lenguaje, por así decirlo, que pueden comunicar a sus otros congéneres. Y aquí vemos un calamar de arrecife caribeño demostrando algo llamado la exhibición lateral plateada. Está emparejado con una hembra, que no podemos ver en esta fotografía, pero está manteniendo su lado oscuro o bonito, supongo, hacia la hembra con la que está, y convirtió en blanca la otra mitad de su cuerpo para repeler a otros machos que quieran robarle al novia. Y, un comportamiento similar que fotografié en las Islas del Canal en California hace varios años, esto sucedió unas noches antes de Navidad en diciembre, esperé dos años para fotografiar este evento cuando un amigo cineasta me avisó que estaba sucediendo. Así que fui, y lo que quería fotografiar era esta agregación masiva, conocida como el big bang, de calamares reunidos para aparearse en grandes cantidades a unos 120 pies de las Islas del Canal. Se agrupan en cientos, y el macho abraza a la hembra, la envuelve con sus brazos que luego se ponen rojos, como ven al del primer plano aquí. Es una especie de advertencia. "Lárgate, esta es mi chica". Y luego las hembras bajan y desovan en el fondo de este enorme turba que se balancea con la corriente. Es asombroso. Y, probablemente, el animal más aterrador que he encontrado en el océano fue este de aquí, algo llamado calamar de Humboldt, Dosidicus gigas, un animal que se sabe que crece hasta 13 pies de largo, que viaja en escuadrones de miles, tiene dientes a lo largo de sus ocho brazos y dos tentáculos alrededor de 24 000 dientes en total. Y su boca es, de hecho, como la de un loro, como un guacamayo que podría arrancar trozos de carne del tamaño de una moneda de su presa. Estos son animales que, cuando leí la literatura antes de fotografiarlos, decía que se comen cualquier cosa que se mueva. No fue muy reconfortante, por supuesto, pero... Este estaba expulsando una nube de tinta, un comportamiento defensivo, mientras me acercaba con mi cámara. En realidad no tuve ningún problema, pero son bastante aterradores. NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC SOCIETY TODOS LOS DERECHOS RESERVADOS.