Giant squids

One of the most famous mythical sea monsters is the Kraken. Legends of this formidable denizen of the sea, armed with powerful tentacles and strong enough to sink a ship, were told in Norway and Iceland. According to modern scientists, the myth was based on sightings of the giant squid Architeuthis. Since the giant squid prefers to live in abyssal waters, it is almost never seen alive by humans; even so, dead specimens are sometimes washed ashore and so the existence of the creature has been reported since ancient times. Pliny the Elder mentioned them in his treaty on Natural History and he wrote that they could grow up to 9.1 meters long (now, we know they get evenbigger!). As well as the legend of the Kraken, the giant squid may have inspired other classic myths, including the Greek Scylla, a multi-headed monster that snatched men from their ships and devoured them; and even "the sea serpents" that strangled Laocoön and his sons in the Iliad. But even though giant squids were reported by Aristotle and Pliny the Elder, they were so fantastic that even later scientists still had trouble to believe in their existence. In 1861, the crew of the Alecton dispatch steamer had a close encounter with a giant squid and even managed to get hold of a piece of the animal's tail. However, they were ridiculed by scientists, who told them that such a creature was "against the laws of nature"! Even today, the giant squid maintains its semi-legendary status. We all know it exists, but it has been called "the most elusive image in Natural History". It was only in 2004 that the giant squid was finally photographed in its natural habitat; the first video was taken two years later.