LIKE whales, giant squid may be killed by very loud underwater noises. Unusual numbers of carcasses washed ashore in Spain are being blamed on geological surveys conducted offshore.
Normally, only one giant squid a year is found along the Spanish coast. But in a 10-day period during 2001, five carcasses were found ashore or floating at sea in the Bay of Biscay. In 2003, another four were found in one week. On both occasions, says Angel Guerra of the Institute of Marine Investigations in Vigo, Spain, geologists were conducting offshore seismic surveys nearby, firing 200-decibel pulses of low-frequency sound into…
