Giant Squid (Architeuthis dux)

Giant squids have historically been a mystery to science. They were known to have existed for centuries since Aristotle’s account of a large squid he called “teuthus”, but were misinterpreted as sea monks, krakens, and sea serpents until the 1850s. Even until 2004, a giant squid was yet to be seen living in its natural habitat. Much of what is known about these massive cephalopods comes from studying washed up carcasses. They have the largest eyes of any living animal on Earth and have an intriguingly complex nervous system. Their prey is caught using their two large, thin tentacles and is drawn by its eight arms towards a beak at the base of its head. Giant squids are too large to be eaten by most other organisms; however, we know that they routinely struggle against sperm whales, evident by the large “sucker marks” consistently found on sperm whale skin.