"squid known at the time. In 2003, a large specimen of an abundant but poorly understood species, ""Mesonychoteuthis hamiltoni"" (the colossal squid), was discovered. This species may grow to in length, making it the largest invertebrate. Squid have the largest eyes in the animal kingdom. The kraken is a legendary tentacled monster possibly based on sightings of real giant squid. In February 2007, a New Zealand fishing vessel caught the largest squid ever documented, weighing and measuring around off the coast of Antarctica. The eggs of squid are large for a mollusc, containing a large amount of yolk to nourish"
"Deep-sea gigantism In zoology, deep-sea gigantism, also known as abyssal gigantism, is the tendency for species of invertebrates and other deep-sea dwelling animals to be larger than their shallower-water relatives. Proposed explanations involve adaptation to scarcer food resources, greater pressure or colder temperature at depth. Examples of deep-sea gigantism include the giant isopod, giant ostracod, the giant sea spider, the giant amphipod, the Japanese spider crab, the giant oarfish, the deepwater stingray, the seven-arm octopus, and a number of squid species: the colossal squid (up to 14 m in length), the giant squid (up to 12 m), ""Onykia robusta"", ""Taningia"
"by squids, with more than twenty species exceeding the largest-bodied octopuses and cuttlefish. The largest of all is the colossal squid (""Mesonychoteuthis hamiltoni"") with an estimated maximum mantle length of (Roper & Jereb, 2010c:173). Even greater mantle lengths have historically been reported for the giant squid (""Architeuthis dux""), but these have been discredited (see O'Shea & Bolstad, 2008). The longest scientifically documented specimens belong to the giant squid, with a maximum total length of (Roper & Shea, 2013:114). Despite its proportionally shorter tentacles, the colossal squid may rival the giant squid in total length, but the species's size limits are"
"bands, or resulted from inadequate measurement methods such as pacing (O'Shea & Bolstad, 2008; Roper & Shea, 2013:113). On the subject of the oft-cited maximum size of 18 metres—or 60 feet—Dery (2013) quoted giant squid experts Steve O'Shea and Clyde Roper: If this figure [45 ft or ] seems a little short of the Brobdingnagian claims made for ""Architeuthis"" in most pop-science stories about the animal, that's probably because virtually every general-interest article dutifully repeats the magic number of ""60"" feet. Steve O'Shea deplores the media's perpetuation of what he believes to be a credulity-straining exaggeration, based on the 19th-century"
"largest giant squid ever recorded. Of the last one, Paxton wrote: ""Sometimes mistakenly cited as 17.37 m (57 ft) but the source is clear that it is 55 ft long."" The first two records, particularly that of Berzin, are more questionable, as Paxton explained: The accuracy of the two longest measured TLs of 19 and 16.81 m from a specimen found in the gut of a sperm whale from the Indian Ocean and from the specimen from New Zealand in 1887, respectively, should also be questioned but again are certainly not impossible. The New Zealand specimen (named ""Architeuthis longimanus"" Kirk,"
"exceptional 15-month period between 2014 and 2015 (Kubodera ""et al."", 2016). Based on a 40-year data set of more than 50 giant squid specimens, Roper & Shea (2013:114) suggest an average total length at maturity of and a ""rarely encountered maximum length"" of . Of the nearly 100 specimens examined by Clyde Roper, the largest was ""46 feet (14 m) long"" (Cerullo & Roper, 2012:22). O'Shea & Bolstad (2008) give a maximum total length of for females based on the examination of more than 130 specimens, measured ""post mortem"" and relaxed, as well as beaks recovered from sperm whales (which"
"of giant squid longer than about 45 feet [] total length. Most are in the 25–35 foot [] range. I have examined specimens in museums and laboratories around the world—perhaps a 100 or so—and I believe the 60 foot number comes from fear, fantasy, and pulling the highly elastic tentacles out to the near breaking point when they are measured on the shore or on deck."" Paxton (2016a) investigated the maximum size of ""Architeuthis"" by performing a statistical analysis using data from literature records of giant squid specimens. He selected what he regarded as the largest size records for each"
"of all invertebrates (in terms of mass) are the largest squids. The colossal squid (""Mesonychoteuthis hamiltoni"") is projected to be the largest invertebrate. Current estimates put its maximum size at long and , based on analysis of smaller specimens. In 2007, authorities in New Zealand announced the capture of the largest known colossal squid specimen. It was initially thought to be and . It was later measured at long and in weight. The mantle was long when measured. The giant squid (""Architeuthis dux"") was previously thought to be the largest squid, and while it is less massive and has a"
"or more have not been scientifically documented. The number of different giant squid species has been debated, but recent genetic research suggests that only one species exists. In 2004, Japanese researchers took the first images of a live giant squid in its natural habitat, and in July 2012, a live adult was first filmed in its natural habitat off Chichijima. Like all squid, a giant squid has a mantle (torso), eight arms, and two longer tentacles (the longest known tentacles of any cephalopod). The arms and tentacles account for much of the squid's great length, making it much lighter than"
"Squid giant axon The squid giant axon is the very large (up to 1 mm in diameter; typically around 0.5 mm) axon that controls part of the water jet propulsion system in squid. It was first described by L. W. Williams in 1909, but this discovery was forgotten until English zoologist and neurophysiologist J. Z. Young demonstrated the axon's function in the 1930s while working in the Stazione Zoologica in Naples, the Marine Biological Association in Plymouth and the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole. Squids use this system primarily for making brief but very fast movements through the water."
"total length, and mass, with the largest species by at least two of these measures being the colossal squid, ""Mesonychoteuthis hamiltoni"". Reaching an estimated in mantle length and in total length, and weighing as much as , this species is also the largest of all extant invertebrates (Rosa & Seibel, 2010; McClain ""et al."", 2015; Rosa ""et al."", 2017). The only other squid that approaches these dimensions is the giant squid of the genus ""Architeuthis"", with females up to , in mantle length, and possibly as much as in total length, making it likely the longest of all cephalopods (McClain"
"""Moby-Dick"" and ""Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea"" on to novels such as Ian Fleming's ""Dr. No"" and Peter Benchley's ""Beast"" (adapted as a film called ""The Beast"") and modern animated television programs. In particular, the image of a giant squid locked in battle with a sperm whale is a common one, although the squid is, in fact, the whale's prey, and not an equal combatant. Giant squid The giant squid (genus Architeuthis) is a deep-ocean dwelling squid in the family Architeuthidae. Giant squid can grow to a tremendous size due to deep-sea gigantism: recent estimates put the maximum size"
"Giant snakehead The giant snakehead or giant mudfish (""Channa micropeltes"") is among the largest species in the family Channidae, capable of growing to in length and a weight of . It is native to the fresh waters of Southeast Asia (south Indian populations are now regarded as a separate species, ""C. diplogramma""), but has also been introduced elsewhere, where considered invasive. Other names include xal mas (শাল মাছ) in Assamese, red snakehead, redline snakehead, and ""Ikan Toman"" (where ""ikan"" is fish in Malay). The young of the giant snakehead are red in color, with orange and black lateral stripes appearing"
"that governs the relative dimensions of squids and their eyes, and that any fitness benefits their size may confer in terms of predator avoidance are the result of exaptation (""pre-adaptation""). Squid giant axons can exceed in diameter: 100 to 1000 times the thickness of mammalian axons. The axons of the Humboldt squid (""Dosidicus gigas"") are exceptional in that they can reach a diameter of as much as , and those of ""Loligo forbesii"" can also exceed 1 mm (Adelman & Gilbert, 1990:102). Such was the importance of Humboldt squid to electrophysiology research that when the animals migrated out of reach"
"Squid giant synapse The squid giant synapse is a chemical synapse found in squid. It is the largest chemical junction in nature. The squid giant synapse (Fig 1) was first recognized by John Zachary Young in 1939. It lies in the stellate ganglion on each side of the midline, at the posterior wall of the squid’s muscular mantle. Activation of this synapse triggers a synchronous contraction of the mantle musculature, causing the forceful ejection of a jet of water from the mantle. This water propulsion allows the squid to move rapidly through the water and even to jump through the"
"have been found in the stomachs of sperm whale as indigestible wastes"" (Aldrich, 1980:59). This led him to entertain the idea of giant squid over long, and even to suggest a binomial name for this super-sized species, were it ever to be discovered: ""Architeuthis halpertius"" (Aldrich, 1980:59). By comparison, giant squid suckers ""normally"" reach a maximum diameter of only a few centimetres. Based on a detailed examination of a number of large specimens from New Zealand waters, Förch (1998:55) wrote that ""[t]he largest suckers [...] on the sessile arms are a very constant in external diameter"". In giant squid the"
"been recorded (Xavier ""et al."", 1999 collated 188 geographical positions for whole or partial specimens caught by commercial and scientific fisheries), very few adult or subadult animals have ever been documented, making it difficult to estimate the maximum size of the species. McClain ""et al."" (2015) stated that only 12 ""complete"" specimens were known. The largest known complete specimen of the colossal squid was a mature female captured in the Ross Sea in February 2007. Its weight was initially estimated at , its mantle length at , and its total length at (O'Shea & Bolstad, 2008; [Anonymous],). Once completely thawed"
"of Oceanography. N ratios showed that this squid is a top predator. Taningia danae Taningia danae, the Dana octopus squid, is a species of squid in the family Octopoteuthidae. It is one of the largest known squid species, reaching a mantle length of and total length of . The largest known specimen, a mature female, weighed . ""Taningia danae"" is named after Danish fisheries biologist Åge Vedel Tåning (1890–1958), who often traveled on the research vessel ""Dana"". In 2005, a Japanese research team headed by Tsunemi Kubodera managed to film ""T. danae"" in its natural habitat for the first time."
"which he called ""teuthus"", distinguishing it from the smaller squid, the ""teuthis"". He mentions, ""of the calamaries, the so-called ""teuthus"" is much bigger than the ""teuthis""; for ""teuthi"" [plural of ""teuthus""] have been found as much as five ells long"". Pliny the Elder, living in the first century AD, also described a gigantic squid in his ""Natural History"", with the head ""as big as a cask"", arms long, and carcass weighing . Tales of giant squid have been common among mariners since ancient times, and may have led to the Norse legend of the ""kraken"", a tentacled sea monster as"
"propulsion. The posterior border is slightly concave. The head is relatively small and has large eyes which are covered with a transparent membrane. Like almost all squid, this species has ten limbs surrounding the mouth and beak: eight are relatively short arms, and two, which form the tentacles, are long, as they are used to catch prey. The fourth left arm of males is a hectocotylus. The European squid can grow up to 30–40 cm in the mantle length, but more usually they are 15–25 cm long. The males are generally bigger than the females and exhibit more rapid rates"
"smaller mantle than the colossal squid, it may exceed the colossal squid in overall length including tentacles. One giant squid specimen that washed ashore in 1878 in Newfoundland reportedly measured in total length (from the tip of the mantle to the end of the long tentacles), head and body length , in diameter at the thickest part of mantle, and weighed about . This specimen is still often cited as the largest invertebrate that has ever been examined. However, no animals approaching this size have been scientifically documented and, according to giant squid expert Steve O'Shea, such lengths were likely"
"weight of (Roper ""et al."", 1984; Roper & Jereb, 2010i:364; Okutani, 2015b). For records of large individuals of this species, see Dall (1873), Verrill (1876), Phillips (1933), Croker (1934), Phillips (1961), and Smith (1963). The Humboldt squid (""Dosidicus gigas""), also known as the 'jumbo squid', grows to a maximum mantle length of at least (Nigmatullin ""et al."", 2001; Roper ""et al."", 2010b:301), if not (Wormuth, 1976:38; Norman, 2000:165; Glaubrecht & Salcedo-Vargas, 2004:54). The largest animals are found off the western coast of South America; northern populations reach ML, and in general ML is more typical for the species (Roper ""et"
"LRL extracted from an animal weighing only ([Anonymous],). The maximum size of the giant squid (""Architeuthis dux"") has long been a subject of both popular debate and academic inquiry (Ellis, 1998b; Paxton, 2016a; Bittel, 2016; Romanov ""et al."", 2017). Unlike the colossal squid, the giant squid is known from a substantial number of mature specimens. The total number of recorded specimens (across all developmental stages) approaches a thousand, with approximately 700 documented , of which around 460 had been measured in some way (Paxton, 2016a). This number has since increased substantially, with 57 specimens recorded from Japanese waters during an"
"all) large squid, has a number of predators. These include the patagonian toothfish, king penguin, wandering albatross, pilot whale, bottlenose whale, dwarf sperm whale, sperm whale, and other types of squid. Onykia ingens Onykia ingens, the greater hooked squid, is a species of squid in the family Onychoteuthidae. It occurs worldwide in subantarctic oceans. Although ""O. ingens"" was long attributed to the genus ""Moroteuthis"", several authors have recently agreed that ""Moroteuthis"" is a junior synonym of ""Onykia."" The size of a fully grown ""O. ingens"", inclusive of tentacles, is currently unknown. Many estimates, however, predict that the mantle may reach"
"Galiteuthis phyllura Galiteuthis phyllura, also known as the cockatoo squid, is a species of glass squid, possibly the largest in the genus. In 1984, the Russian stern-trawler ""Novoulianovsk"" brought up the remains of a gigantic specimen of ""G. phyllura"" from a depth of 1000–1300 m in the Sea of Okhotsk. Based on this material, which consisted of a 40 cm long arm and 115 cm tentacle, Kir Nesis estimated the mantle length at 265–275 cm, and the total length at over 4 m. This would make it the second largest squid species in terms of mantle length, after only the"
"mammalian preparations are now available for such studies such as the calyx of Held. Squid giant synapse The squid giant synapse is a chemical synapse found in squid. It is the largest chemical junction in nature. The squid giant synapse (Fig 1) was first recognized by John Zachary Young in 1939. It lies in the stellate ganglion on each side of the midline, at the posterior wall of the squid’s muscular mantle. Activation of this synapse triggers a synchronous contraction of the mantle musculature, causing the forceful ejection of a jet of water from the mantle. This water propulsion allows"
"Environment Agency was quoted as saying, “The reaction was, 'Oh s***'. This is the ultimate invasive species — if it starts breeding here it's a disaster."" However, it was later determined to be a hoax; the fish had actually been found dead in a street. Giant snakehead The giant snakehead or giant mudfish (""Channa micropeltes"") is among the largest species in the family Channidae, capable of growing to in length and a weight of . It is native to the fresh waters of Southeast Asia (south Indian populations are now regarded as a separate species, ""C. diplogramma""), but has also"
"colossal squids may grow larger than , possibly up to . In 2005 a specimen was captured at a depth of while taking a toothfish from a longline off South Georgia Island. Although the mantle was not brought aboard, the mantle length was estimated at over , and the tentacles measured . The animal is thought to have weighed between . The largest recorded specimen was captured in 2007 by a New Zealand fishing boat off Antarctica. It was initially estimated to measure in length and weigh . The squid was taken back to New Zealand for scientific study. A"
"are presumed to live near the surface, until they reach a mantle length of approximately 200 mm, at which time they relocate to deeper water, and larger prey. ""O. ingens"" exhibit sexual dimorphism, with females growing linearly twice as fast as males, and reaching a fully mature size of more than five times that of male counterparts. Penis elongation has been observed in this species; when erect, the penis may be as long as the mantle, head and arms combined. As such, deep water squid like ""M. ingens"" have the greatest known penis length relative to body size of all"
"eight or ten. Decapods such as cuttlefish and squid have five pairs. The longer two, termed ""tentacles"", are actively involved in capturing prey; they can lengthen rapidly (in as little as 15 milliseconds). In giant squid they may reach a length of 8 metres. They may terminate in a broadened, sucker-coated club. The shorter four pairs are termed ""arms"", and are involved in holding and manipulating the captured organism. They too have suckers, on the side closest to the mouth; these help to hold onto the prey. Octopods only have four pairs of sucker-coated arms, as the name suggests, though"
"by greatly stretching the two tentacles like elastic bands. Based on the examination of 130 specimens and of beaks found inside sperm whales, giant squids' mantles are not known to exceed . Including the head and arms, but excluding the tentacles, the length very rarely exceeds . Maximum total length, when measured relaxed ""post mortem"", is estimated at for females and for males from the posterior fins to the tip of the two long tentacles. Giant squid exhibit sexual dimorphism. Maximum weight is estimated at for females and for males. Little is known about the reproductive cycle of giant squid."
"was a small female about long and weighing . The bait used by the scientists initially attracted a medium-sized squid measuring around , which in turn attracted the giant squid. It was pulled aboard the research vessel, but died in the process. In July 2012, a crew from television networks NHK and Discovery Channel captured what they describe as ""the first-ever footage of a live giant squid in its natural habitat"". The footage was revealed on a NHK Special on 13 January 2013, and was shown on Discovery Channel's show ""Monster Squid: The Giant Is Real"" on 27 January 2013,"
"Kondakovia longimana Kondakovia longimana, also known as the giant warty squid or longarm octopus squid, is a large species of hooked squid. It attains a mantle length of at least 85 cm and probably over 1.15 m. The largest complete specimen of this species, measuring 2.3 m in total length, was found in Antarctica in 2000. ""K. longimana"" is a large squid, the adults can grow to a mantle length of 740mm, which is characterised by the presence of 33 hooks and marginal suckers throughout the tentacular club during subadult years. The gladius of this species is not visible beneath"