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Zoos and aquariums are amazing places where regular people can get a peak at animals they would normally not get to see, scientists get to observe and study them, and the animals themselves get a safe place to live (especially after an injury or other issue).
Of course, zoos and aquariums are only good places when they are able to properly take care of the animals properly, which sadly does not happen nearly as much as it should. Fortunately, however, in recent decades there has been a big effort on the part of most zoos to improve the living conditions for the animals and make them more natural, which can help to reduce the stress on everything living there.
When it comes to aquariums, there are many factors to consider when building one. When done properly, an aquarium can handle sea creatures of all sizes ranging from tiny plankton to massive whales, even if it isn’t always easy.
So, one might wonder, what would it take to safely build an aquarium that could house a giant squid? While, in theory it may be possible, in reality it will almost certainly never happen.
Giant squid are very large, with the biggest ever recorded being 13 meters (43 feet) long. So, to start with, the aquarium would have to not just be big enough to fit the animal, but to allow it to swim and move around naturally, which is hard on its own.
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Next, take note that giant squid spend most of their lives deep in the ocean at depths around 1000 meters (3300 feet). Compare that to the largest aquarium in the world, which is just 11 meters (36 feet) deep, and you can see why this will be a challenge. It is not safe for a squid to spend a lot of time in shallow water because their body has evolved to endure the massive amounts of pressure in the depths of the ocean. Having a lack of pressure can be almost as dangerous as having too much pressure.
Another obstacle that would have to be overcome is feeding the animal. While a squid can live on many different types of fish and other sea animals, they naturally eat mostly other squid and deep sea fish. This is done by grabbing them with their long tentacles and ripping into them with serrated suckers. From there, the squid can eat its prey through its hard beak-like mouth. Animals thrive when they eat the same thing in captivity as they do in the wild, and getting enough of their natural prey to meet their dietary needs would be hard.
One last difficulty is that even if you could address all of the above issues and you built a perfect environment for the squid, it likely isn’t going to live very long. Giant squid have an average lifespan of between 2 and 5 years. This means any aquarium that wanted to keep giant squid would have to also have a successful breeding program in order to make sure they were always available. A successful breeding program means having a large enough breeding population, which compounds the difficulty of all of the above mentioned issues.
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Oh, and one last issue to overcome for the aspiring giant squid aquarium owner. Capturing the initial giant squids to populate the aquarium would be very hard. Since they live so far below the surface, they are almost never seen, even by research. Most of what we know about them comes from corpses that were found and studied, not from live interactions.
With that in mind, it would be very hard to find them, then safely capture them, and then transport them back to the facility.
To put it simply, it’s just not happening.
Thought that was fascinating? Here’s another story you might like: Why You’ll Never See A Great White Shark In An Aquarium