Dead Squid Washed Up : Environment: The warm ocean currents and strong surf along southern Orange County’s shores are responsible for the creatures’ drifting ashore, marine biologists say.

Hundreds of squid carried by unusually warm currents and strong surf washed ashore Friday along some of southern Orange County’s most popular surfing and sunbathing beaches.

“I’ve seen little squid before, a few dead seals, but never anything like these,” said Israel Paskowitz, 27, a champion surfer whose family runs a surfing school at San Onofre State Park.

The pink and black animals, some as long as 3 feet and gooey to the touch, began washing ashore with the rising tide at San Onofre, Doheny State Park and Salt Creek Beach Park early Friday. About 100 squid were counted at Doheny, and the dead and dying creatures were strewn at 5-foot intervals along some stretches of San Onofre.

Marine biologists say these squid are the offspring of a large South American variety known as “jumbo” or Humboldt squid that live off Peru, Chile and Ecuador.

In their natural habitat, adults can get up to 12 feet long, but in local waters they rarely reach more than 4 feet in length.

The juvenile squid drift north on warm currents from their home waters every 10 to 20 years, said Eric Hochberg, a squid expert and curator of the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History. Sightings in Southern California have been recorded as far back as the 1860s.

“They usually last a couple of years here but don’t reproduce in these waters, so they die out,” Hochberg said.

What kills them, marine biologists say, is, in effect, their own appetites. They feed on sardines and will follow grunion to shore when the grunion come in to spawn.

“They’ll follow them ashore and get too close and get battered by the surf,” Hochberg said. “Then they’ll get sand in their body cavities, and one of those two things will kill them.”

On Thursday, squid were reported washing ashore at Ocean Beach in San Diego. But lifeguards at Orange County’s southernmost beaches seemed to be finding the largest concentrations of baby jumbo squid.

Part of the reason for the squids’ arrival has been this summer’s record high water temperatures, which were around 70 degrees Friday, said Fred Roberts, assistant curator of the UC Irvine Museum of Systematic Biology.

In addition, the lack of a prevailing northwest wind and three storms in a row through June and July have left Southern California ocean waters resembling those found in the tropics, Roberts said.

“We are having a very early storm season this year and, without the wind to stir up the water, the temperatures can rise up into the 70s,” Roberts said. “Warm water always brings in a different variety of organisms.”

Hochberg said the good news about the squid is that they are edible.

“This is the type of squid you will see advertised as abalone-style squid or calamari steaks,” Hochberg said. He cautioned, however, that any squid left too long in the sun should be left alone.

At San Onofre, lifeguards were busy using their break time filleting portions of the baby squid. Shaun Healy, 23, a five-year lifeguard veteran, said he was planning a barbecue of epic proportions.

“We’ve got 60 pounds of ice on the way, and we’re going to cut these guys up and stash them away,” Healy said. “I’ve got at least 30 pounds already. Then we’ll have a giant cookout on the beach.”

SQUID FACTS

Squids are mollusks, with soft, boneless bodies. They are found in oceans throughout the world and usually swim in large groups called shoals.

They can change color rapidly. Squids do so mainly for protection, as a way of hiding from predators. The color range is from near white to orange, red, brown, gray and black.

They have two fins on their tails and a head surrounded by 10 arms, two of which are longer than the others. Each arm has sucking discs for holding prey, usually small fish such as mackerel and herring.

Squids range in size from less than 1 foot to nearly 40 feet in length, including arms.

They swim with their fins. When greater speed is needed, squids suck water into a

muscular tube under their heads. They pull the water into the walls of their body, then blow it back out the tube, which propels them.

Squids are also equipped with an ink sac. When fleeing from an enemy, the squid spurts out its dark fluid, clouding the water around them so that they can escape. The fluid is harmless to people.

Source: The World Book Encyclopedia and Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego Researched by Kathie Bozanich