SQUID (of uncertain etymology). A cephalo pod mollusk, differing, from the nautilus in hav ing no outer shell, the body being supported by an inner pen-shaped horny structure. or, in the cattle of the Mediterranean, by a calcareous 'bone.' flattened oval in shape. The body of the squid is somewhat fish-like, pointed behind, with two fins. while the head is rather large and armed with ten long arms, bearing cup-shaped suckers, two of the arms being longer than the others. The eyes are large and perfect. The mouth is armed with two powerful black teeth, shaped like the jaws of a parrot. At the base of the smaller jaw is the lingual ribbon (radula). With this they divide their food. The rquid is provided with an ink-sac, and when attacked it will discharge the water in its mantle through its siphon. the ink passing out with the water as if from a syringe; in this way the water is colored, and under cover of the inky cloud the squid darts backward. Squids are very active and powerful in their movements; they will enter a school of fish, dart to the right or left, and seize a fish. biting it in the nape of the
neck and killing it instantly. The body is beau tifully tinted and spotted with all the colors of the rainbow, and the animal rapidly changes its hues, this being due to the contraction and dilatation of the pigment-cells or chromatophores. (See METActutosts.) Flying squids (q.v.) are oceanic decapods of the genus Ommastrephes.
Ordinary squids are from 1 to 2 feet in length. The largest squid known is Architeuthis princeps, nearly 19 feet long in body; the longer arms measure about 29 feet, the entire animal, with ex tended arms, reaching a length of 40 feet. Another species (Architeuthis monachus) has a body about 7 feet long, with the two longer arms 24 feet in length. (For fossil squids, see BELE nuns.) Consult Verrill, "The Cephalopods of the Northeastern Coast of America," in Transac tions of the Connecticut Academy, vol. v. (New Haven, 1879-80). Compare CEPHALOPODA and DECAPODA.