Finding Ocean Giants: Using Species Distribution Modeling to Advance Our Understanding of the Giant Squid, Architeuthis dux

Abstract

The Giant Squid, Architeuthis dux, has been described for well over a century yet the majority of its life remains largely a mystery. They are known to have a global distribution with a prior study breaking them into three distinct populations, but the drivers behind their distribution remain unknown. In order to better understand their distribution and make inferences into their biology we created a species distribution model using Maxent. Records of occurrence were gathered from specimen databases from around the globe (-94 occurrences), and the model was developed using variables of sea surface temperature, net primary production, surface nitrate, surface phosphate, surface silicate, and averaged mesopelagic dissolved oxygen concentration. The model identified A. dux to have strong associations with areas of high productivity and exclusion from equatorial temperatures and oxygen minimum zones. In terms of ocean features, A. dux appears to associate most heavily with eastern boundary currents. These areas of likely occurrence are very productive regions and the presence of A. dux, a high trophic level predator in these regions has implications for developing understanding of these food webs and associated fisheries. Further improving our understanding of A. dux will require greater sampling for that purpose, which has become feasible due to new techniques in the field.