Last
Tuesday, Ibadan, the capital city of Oyo State, was thrown into an
unusual turmoil when news filtered through the town that a woman
discovered a mermaid in a carton of iced fish she bought from a local
store.Even up till Wednesday, when the state police command that had been battling to save the discoverer of the ‘mermaid’ and her family from rampaging thugs and traditional religious believers who wanted to take custody of their “god,” not many people had realised that the creature found in the fish pack of Mrs Ramotalai Adeyemo of Akindele compound in Isale Asaka, Foko area of the town was a squid and not even particularly an octopus, as many have later claimed.
Squid, one of the animals from the sea Loliginidae family and of class Cephalopoda, in Latin language, is known as Loligo spp. In Indonesia, the squid is known with some of the terms, such as enus, NUS, cuttlefish or sontong interest.
Findings showed that octopuses and squids are both head-footed aquatic animals, known as cephalopod. But they differ in their physical characteristics, habitats and behaviours.
An octopus has a round head and a mantle along with eight arms. The arms are endowed with one or two rows of suckers, but these never have hooks or sucker rings. Squids are also of the cephalopod family with a triangular shape head, a mantle and eight arms. Along with that, they have two fins on their head and two tentacles. Unlike the octopus, the arms of a squid are endowed with hooks and/or suckers or sucker rings. The tentacles are arranged in pairs.
Further findings showed that most octopi do not have fins, though some deep water octopuses may be exceptions. However, squid, such as the one found in Ibadan, have two fins on their heads. The animals belong to the group known as phylum Mollusca (the group that snail, shrimps etc belong) in biological parlance. But while the squids live in the open ocean, the octopi live in the sea floor. Also, while the biological order of octopus is octopoda, that of the squid is teuthida. While octopi have no skeleton at all, squids possess a stiff structure known as a pen, which acts like a flexible backbone. Finding showed that an average squid is about 60 centimetre, while a giant one can be between 13 and 20 metres (about 66 feet). The animal, which has about 298 species, has a life span of between nine months and five years.
Unknown to many, particularly in this part of the world, squids are source of food in many parts of the globe. Findings have shown that it is food in countries like Japan, Argentina, Australia and many parts of South America. In fact, as a result of fear of driving squids into extinction, authorities in Argentina recently imposed a temporary ban on squid catching. Reports had it that it was discovered that squids were not allowed to grow to the desired 800 grams size before they were hauled off the waters for consumption. Thus, the country’s Federal Fisheries Council (CFP) decided to impose the ban. It was estimated that the global catch of squid in the South Atlantic region is around 390,000 tonnes.
In some places, when considered as sea food, squid may be called calamari. A variety of food, known as black pasta, is colored using squid ink. The arms, tentacles and ink of squid are also edible. Indeed, the only part of the squid that is said not to be eaten is its beak and gladius (pen). Squid rings and arms are often coated in batter and fried in oil. Reports said in the Mediterranean, squid or cuttlefish ink is eaten in a variety of dishes such as paella, risotto, soups and pasta. In Chinese and South East Asian cuisine, squid is a common ingredient in a variety of dishes such as stir-fries, rice and noodle dishes.
Nigerian Tribune’s findings indicated that in addition to being delicious, squid is rich in nutrition. Reports had it that it is rich in protein, minerals and various vitamins. Some health blogs maintain that the “ink liquid asset” of squid is useful for combating tumour.
Experts also said squid have a womb made up of extraordinary nutrition, “because protein in its uterus is quite high.” Squid meat is said to consist all of the essential amino acid needed by the body, such as the dominant leucine, lysine and phenylalanine. Squid is said to be capable of providing the body with 90 per cent of copper, a trace mineral which plays a role in the absorption, storage and metabolism of iron and the formation of red blood cells in the body.
This animal is also reported to be rich in Vitamin B2 (riboflavin), a nutrient which several studies have shown lowers the frequency and duration of migraines. Although experts claim that findings were preliminary, research data suggest that riboflavin supplementation may be a good addition to migraine prevention treatment. These are only a few among the plethora of nutritional value inherent in squid consumption.
Further investigation into this specie of animal indicated that a recent report by AFP showed that Japanese researchers discovered that a species of oceanic squid can fly more than 30 metres (100 feet) through the air “at speeds faster than Usain Bolt, if it wants to escape predators.”
The report added that Neon Flying Squid propels itself out of the ocean by shooting a jet of water at high pressure, before opening its fins to glide at up to 11.2 metres per second, according to Jun Yamamoto of Hokkaido University in Japan.
“There were always witnesses and rumours that said squid were seen flying, but no one had clarified how they actually do it. We have proved that it is really true,” Yamamoto was reported to have told AFP.
“Once they finish shooting out the water, they glide by spreading out their fins and arms,” Yamamoto’s team said in a report. The fins and the web between the arms, according to him, create aerodynamic lift and keep the squid stable on its flight arc.
“As they land back in the water, the fins are all folded back into place to minimise the impact. We have discovered that squid do not just jump out of water but have a highly developed flying posture. This finding means that we should no longer consider squid as things that live only in the water.
It is highly possible that they are also a source of food for sea birds,” the report, published by German Science magazine, Marine Biology, noted.
It, thus, appears that the “Yemoja” found in a carton of fish in Ibadan was only an unfortunate squid caught by a trawler and inadvertently packaged with some species of fish, probably, herring. The fact that squid live either in isolation or in shoal in the open ocean like fishes is enough to make it susceptible to being caught in the fisherman’s net. It is for the same reason of habitat that it is most unlikely that an octopus would find itself in a carton of iced fish bought at a local shop in Beere or Oja’ba in Ibadan, because the octopus lives in the sea bed.
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