Squid don’t fight like a fish does. No doubt they have the same urge for freedom as a fish but they lack the apparatus to gain it. It’s not their fight that we’re after though. It’s usually their high quality as both bait and food, or the appeal in hunting a creature with the ability to change pattern and colour like a chameleon, and which uses suction to cling to its prey - something bred into us as children as the trait of monsters. Squid are a most unusual animal and so are those who chase them.
When fresh and lively out of the water, each squid is unique. They can come out of the water yellow or dark brown, matching the kelp or weed below, then instantly turn translucent, or when laid on barnacled rocks become speckled and multi-coloured in an effort to camouflage themselves. It’s pretty cool!
Cuttlefish and octopus, also in the cephalopod family have the same unusual abilities but are not as good on a plate, nor as plentiful. Cuttlefish have lower edible value (unless you’re a budgie, who just love a cuttlefish bone). The big purple occies we sometimes find
