Mythology Surrounding The Giant Squid

Introduction

The giant squid reaches 59 feet in length. It has the largest eyes of the animal kingdom, and holds the title of largest invertebrate living. It has reappeared in human mythologies and stories from the Odyssey to Harry Potter; it captures the imagination, this deep sea creature with staring eyes and 39 foot tentacles lined with suckers. We certainly have our stories about the giant squid; they used to reach the shore on the lips of sailors, who rarely gave accurate information, and now they greet us in the cinema. But in recent years teams of scientists have set out on the trail of the giant squid in an effort to find real information about it. Before we can understand what they found, we must understand what they were looking for, and what they already knew.

Mythology Surrounding the Squid

The squid is a gentle giant. There are few if any reputable reports of it attacking people, or their boats. But a mythology surrounds and pervades it. A blanket term for this mythology is "kraken," the Swedish and Norwegian name or "kolkrabbe," which is the Icelandic name; just the term kraken brings to mind a huge, mindlessly violent, and yet strangely intelligent beast. Roland Anderson described this mythology:
Octopuses and squids,
Sunlight does not penetrate, for the most part, below 200 meters; before it was found, the giant squid was thought to live as much as 1000 meters below. Some animals are nearly blind, giving in to the darkness; the giant squid has huge eyes instead, which can be up to 11 inches in diameter; even in the near-total darkness of the abyss these allow the giant squid to see up to 120 meters away. The sperm whale (Physeter macrocephalus) has sonar that exceeds that. It is possible that the two have coevolved; as the whale became a better hunter, with its sonar reaching ever further, the squid evolved an early warning system to help escape its only known predator (Nilsson et al.,