page_title: Humboldt squid
section_title: Distribution
hierarchical_section_title: Humboldt squid / Distribution
caption_attribution_description: English: Dead squid.
context_page_description: The Humboldt squid, also known as jumbo squid, jumbo flying squid, pota, or diablo rojo, is a large, predatory squid living in the waters of the Humboldt Current in the eastern Pacific Ocean. It is the only species of the genus Dosidicus of the subfamily Ommastrephinae, family Ommastrephidae.
  Humboldt squid typically reach a mantle length of 1.5 m. They have a reputation for aggression towards humans, though this behavior may possibly only be manifested during feeding times. Like other members of the subfamily Ommastrephinae, they possess bioluminescent photophores and are capable of quickly changing body coloration. They notably rapidly flash red and white while hunting, earning them the name diablo rojo among fishermen. These chromatophores may rapidly cycle through colors other than red and white, flashing too quickly for the human eye to see the transitions. They have a relatively short lifespan of just 1-2 years.
  They are most commonly found at depths of 200 to 700 m, from Tierra del Fuego to California. This species is spreading north into the waters of the Pacific Northwest, in Oregon, Washington, British Columbia, and Alaska.
context_section_description: The Humboldt squid lives at depths of 200 to 700 m (660 to 2,300 ft) in the eastern Pacific (Chile, Peru), ranging from Tierra del Fuego north to California. It gets its name from the Humboldt Current, in which it lives, off the coast of South America. Recently, the squid have been appearing farther north, as far as British Columbia. They have also ventured into Puget Sound.
  Though they usually prefer deep water, between 1,000 and 1,500 squid washed up on the Long Beach Peninsula in southwest Washington in late 2004 and red algae were a speculated cause for the late 2012 beaching of an unspecified number of juvenile squid (average length 50 cm [1.5 ft]) at Monterey Bay over a 2-month period.
caption: A Humboldt squid that washed up on a Santa Barbara shoreline
exif: {"Image Make": "Panasonic", "Image Model": "DMC-TZ3", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Ver.1.0", "Image DateTime": "2007:07:08 12:56:49", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image ExifOffset": "546", "Image CustomRendered": "Normal", "Image ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "Image WhiteBalance": "Auto", "Image DigitalZoomRatio": "0", "Image FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "28", "Image SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "Image GainControl": "None", "Image Contrast": "Normal", "Image Saturation": "Normal", "Image Sharpness": "Normal", "Image PrintIM": "[80, 114, 105, 110, 116, 73, 77, 0, 48, 50, 53, 48, 0, 0, 14, 0, 1, 0, 22, 0, ... ]", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "7808", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "5929", "Thumbnail YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/640", "EXIF FNumber": "33/10", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "100", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0221", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2007:07:08 12:56:49", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2007:07:08 12:56:49", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "4", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "86/25", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, auto mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "23/5", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "3072", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "2304", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed"}