San Diego Menaced By Jumbo Squid
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Summary

July 17, 2009 — A plague of squid have appeared off the coast of San Diego, California. Dozens have washed up on the beaches and divers swimming off the coast have been attacked by large groups of them.

> "One diver described how one of the rust-coloured creatures ripped the buoyancy aid and light from her chest, and grabbed her with its tentacles."

The cephelapods in question are the Humboldt squid, which can grow up to 1.5 meters (about 5 feet) in length, weigh up to 45 kg and have big nasty beaks that can take a huge chomp out of an unwary swimmer's leg. They apparently don't like the media, because when divers tried to film them, they swam towards the camera lights and rammed the divers.

Scientists say that the Humboldt squid usually dwell in deeper waters off Mexico and Central America. They don't know what has brought the squid up to California this year, although they note an earlier squid invasion occurred in 2002 and in Orange County in January of 2005

See Also

Source

Game and Story Use

  • The squid are emissaries of the Deep Ones! Great Cthulhu is arising!
  • They have been driven out of their natural habitat by something.
    • An undersea volcano
    • A giant monster, awakened from its eons-old slumber
    • Deep sea oil exploration is disturbing the ecosystem of their natural range.
  • Something is attracting them to San Diego
    • A mad scientist has invented a subsonic device that calls cephelapods!
    • Could the statue of an ancient Polynesian squid-god recently unveiled at the San Diego Museum have anything to do with it?
  • They are protecting something lying at the bottom of the ocean off the coast of San Deigo. What could it be?
    • It's Cthulhu, I tell you! Cthulhu!!!
  • Consider large numbers of land-based predators swarming across an area. Even if the humans can largely avoid them, they will still devastate the local livestock and ecosystem - and make it dangerous to go out where they have been sighted.
  • For B-Movie Horror, note how they are Menacing Our Women!
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