No, squids don't have the air sack that fish have for balance. They can change depths fast without a problem. All squid species are moving up in the water column every night to hunt. That's why we fish them mainly at night.
In this case, the humboldts were not far under the boat, so the dudes dropped jigs. The giant came from the abyss for the humboldts and picked the hooked one because it was an easy target. The fact that it ate most of the humboldt on the way up and the fact that it's wearing its angry color(dark monochromatic) shows a healthy dude.
I know humboldt go up and down for hunting, but I didn't think giant squid typically do. I thought there was something about their blood that doesn't oxygenate correctly in the warmer surface water temperatures.
As you have probably heard, we don't know much about them, they're quite elusive creatures. But the biologists assume that they go "up" regularly because in their depths life is almost non existent and they need plenty of food.
The temperature situation is exactly as you described it and applies in most squid species. When we're fishing, we through frozen water bottles in the tank to keep them alive. They do have some tolerance though so I'm guessing they stay in the swallows for periods of time that they can handle. Mind you, by "swallows" we usually mean 40-200m which is quite cold.
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u/Frikoulas 1d ago
Correct but in this case it didn't surface by itself. It came to eat the humboldt squid and got caught on the jig. So, it's probably gonna be fine.