Jumbo squid lurking off the Pacific Northwest coast could threaten salmon runs and signal another change in the oceans brought on by global warming.

The squid, which can reach 7 feet long and weigh up to 110 pounds, are aggressive, thought to hunt in packs, and can move at up to 15 mph. In Mexico, they are known as diablos rojos, or red devils. They reportedly will attack divers when threatened.

No one knows why they started appearing off Washington state and Oregon or how many there are, but scientists and commercial fishermen have found them in their nets every year since 2004 and their numbers are increasing. One ship trawling for Pacific hake captured an estimated 50 tons of the squid in one net haul. Though they usually prefer deep water, 1,000 to 1,500 washed up on the Long Beach Peninsula in southwest Washington in the fall of 2004.

“This is a new phenomenon,” said Jason Phillips, a faculty research assistant at Oregon State University’s Hatfield Marine Science Center in Newport, Ore. A briefing paper from the science center suggested the jumbo squid may already be “well established” in the Pacific Northwest.

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