Humboldt Squid
Calamar gigante
Dosidicus gigas · Ommastrephidae
- Category
- Squid
- Found in
- Pacific Baja, Sea of Cortez
- IUCN status
- Data Deficient
- Mexico fish counts
- 1,271 counted
About Humboldt Squid in Mexico
How to recognize it
The Humboldt squid is a large, muscular squid with a long torpedo-shaped mantle, broad fins at the rear, eight arms and two longer feeding tentacles lined with toothed suckers, and a hard, parrot-like beak. Its skin flashes rapidly between deep red and white, which is why Mexican fishermen also call it diablo rojo. Most caught on rod and reel weigh roughly 10 to 30 pounds, and big ones are much heavier.
Where and when in Mexico
Known in Mexico as calamar gigante, it lives in the eastern Pacific and is famous in the Sea of Cortez, where Santa Rosalía and Guaymas have long been the center of Mexico's jumbo squid fishery. It also turns up off the Pacific coast of Baja. Numbers swing widely from year to year with ocean conditions, and squid can be abundant one season and scarce the next. In Mexico Fish Reports' counts nearly all of them come from San Felipe boats between 2006 and 2009, with a handful from Cabo San Lucas.
How it's fished
Squid fishing is mostly done at night, when the squid rise toward the surface. Anglers drop heavy, glow-in-the-dark squid jigs under lights and work them up and down in the water column; once a school is found the action can be fast. Strong line, sturdy rods and gloves help, because hooked squid pull hard, squirt ink and can bite with their beaks.
Good to know
Mexico's sport-fishing rules allow squid while banning other mollusks, with a daily limit shown in the fishing rules on this page. The thick mantle is good eating, cut into steaks or strips. Expect to get inked, and keep hands away from the beak when unhooking.
Fishing rules in Mexico
- Squid: 5 per angler per day
Source: NOM-017-PESC-1994 §4.9.1 (2013 mod.). Rules change; confirm current limits, seasons and permits with CONAPESCA before you fish.
Where Humboldt Squid are caught in Mexico
- San Felipe 1,256 counted · last Jul 2009
- Cabo San Lucas 15 counted · last Mar 2010
Fish counts by year
| Year | Kept | Released | Trips |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 13 | 0 | 2 |
| 2009 | 28 | 0 | 2 |
| 2008 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 2007 | 481 | 0 | 10 |
| 2006 | 748 | 0 | 12 |
From fish counts posted by the Mexican landings on Mexico Fish Reports. Years with no posted counts are not shown.