Various species of the Architeuthis genus. And so we get to the poster animal for the deep sea. Immortalised in the modern classic, Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne. It is also thought to be the source of the legend of the Kraken, the Norse sea monster that could drag a ship to its doom. Its illusiveness along with its size has probably been partly responsible for capturing the popular imagination. Though notable historical figures such as Aristotle had made records of what are now known to be giant squid, the first official recordings began in 1545 near Sweden. Since then there have been numerous finds of dead squid which have washed ashore. That was until 2001 when a larval giant squid was caught on film. Though photos of adults were taken in 2002, it would take scientists a further 4 years to film an adult giant squid for the first time. Estimates of giant squid size vary because measurements have been made based on different parts of their bodies. Their anatomy can be split into three distinct sections; their tentacles, their arms and their mantle (or body). The mantle contains all the organs like heart, brain and stomach. Its the long torpedo shaped bit which the arms and tentacles then flow from. The arms differ from the tentacles by being shorter and not as dexterous. The tentacles are the business part of the squid and are used to capture small prey. The maximum size for giant squid is estimated to be 13 meters, which is from the tip of their mantle to the end of their long tentacles. The deep sea has been throwing us all kinds of alien-squid creatures, including the Giant, Colossal and Big Fin (pictured above) varieties of horrorshow. Oh yeah, that image above doesn't show you the half of it. Meet the full-size Bigfin Squid, aka, all of your worst nightmares. Want to write for WhatCulture Science? Click here to find out how you could get paid to write about what you love.Hey, you. Yeah, you. You want some more science? Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter for your next fix.
