Colossal squid
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 study on the specimen later showed its actual weight was , but it only measured in total length as a result of the tentacles' shrinking "post mortem".
List of giant squid specimens and sightings
Tales of giant squid have been common among mariners since ancient times, but the animals were long considered mythical, and often associated with the kraken of Nordic legend (Rees, 1949; Salvador & Tomotani, 2014; Hogenboom, 2014). Scientific acceptance did not materialise until specimens became available to zoologists in the second half of the 19th century, beginning with the formal naming of "Architeuthis dux" by Japetus Steenstrup in 1857, from fragmentary Bahamian material collected two years earlier (#14 on this list; Steenstrup, 1857:183; validated in Harting, 1860:11). The giant squid came to public prominence in 1861 when the French corvette "Alecton" encountered a live animal (#18) at the surface while navigating near Tenerife. A report of the incident filed by the ship's captain (Bouyer, 1861) was almost certainly seen by Jules Verne and adapted by him for the description of the monstrous squid in "Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea" (Ellis, 1998a:79).