Monster Fish, Massive Squid, and Giant Worms

Sometimes the weird take more physical forms. They don’t disappear when you shine a flashlight on them and their photographs aren’t always blurry. That might make them even weirder.

Take this two foot zander that had bitten at least six swimmers in a Swiss lake. A fish warden harpooned and killed the 17 1/2 pound fish after one swimmer received a four inch bite while in Lac Majeur.

Zanders or pike are not known for being aggressive and the behavior of this monster is thought to be a “hormonal imbalance”.

Or maybe some four foot-40 pound squid that washed up on to the beach after an earthquake near La Jolla, California.

The morning started with a 4.0 magnitude earthquake that was centered about 19 miles of the coast. Not terribly strong, but enough to rattle the residents of La Jolla, not far from San Diego. Not long after, dozens of the massive Humboldt squid began washing up on shore.

Locals tried to help the squid back into the water, but many of the dazed and confused squid ended up back on the beach, where they were eaten by seagulls.

There seems to be some discussion on if the earthquake was the cause of the unusual squid beaching.

And then the giant Palouse earthworm. Said to live under the farm land of Eastern Washington into the Idaho panhandle, the worm is reported to secrete a lily-like smell when handled, spit at predators, and live in burrows 15 feet deep. There is even a movement to get the Obama administration to protect the worm as an endangered species, even though there is only one confirmed specimen.

Sightings of the giant Palouse earthworm (Driloleirus americanu) or GPE go back to the 1890s, where GPEs up to three feet long were reported. The GPE was thought to be extinct until the single confirmed specimen was discovered in 2005, resulting in the current push to protect and research the GPE.

So while watching the skies for Orange Balls of Light and searching the woods for bigfoot, watch out for those monster man biting zanders, dazed and confused 40 pound squid and GPEs.

Thanks to Josh Bomb for the GPE tip.