MonsterQuest

MonsterQuest: Giant Squid

Giant Squid "Kraken"

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BEHAVIOR

The elusive giant squid dwells deep below the ocean's surface and chows down on smaller squid and deep-sea fish. Their primary predators are sperm whales.

WHEREABOUTS

The giant squid, or Architeuthis dux, is believed to reside in all the world's oceans, particularly near such countries as Newfoundland, New Zealand, Norway, Australia and Japan.

VITAL STATS

These creatures have two fins, a mantle (torso), eight long arms and two longer tentacles. The inside of their arms and tentacles are lined with hundreds of suctions cups. There have been unsubstantiated sightings of giant squid measuring some 65 feet in length.

RELATIVES

Another deep-sea dweller, the Colossal squid, or Mesonychoteuthis hamiltoni, is considered the world's largest invertebrate. It typically weighs more than a giant squid and has hooks on its tentacles. In 2007, New Zealand fishermen near Antarctica pulled a near-dead colossal squid onboard their boat. It was placed in a freezer and later donated to a New Zealand museum. The squid weighed some 1,000 pounds and had eyes that were likely once as big as soccer balls; indeed the colossal squid's eyes are bigger than those of any other known animal.

HISTORY

The legend of the kraken dates back to 12th century Norway, when sailors reported tales of a tentacled sea monster as big as an island and capable of sinking ships. Kraken is derived from a Scandinavian word meaning something unhealthy or twisted.

MOST RECENT SIGHTING

In 2004, Japanese researchers off the Ogasawara Islands in the North Pacific took what are believed to be the first-ever photographs of a giant squid in its natural environment. In 2006, the same team shot the first video of a live giant squid near the water's surface. The squid, which died while it was being captured, was a not-fully-grown female which measured approximately 24 feet in length.