The question of whether the Kraken exists has fascinated people for centuries, bridging the gap between terrifying maritime folklore and modern marine biology. Sailors returned from the sea with tales of monstrous creatures capable of sinking ships, stories that sparked fear and fueled imaginations. While the mythological creature does not inhabit the oceans, scientific exploration has confirmed the existence of real-world animals so immense and elusive that they are clearly the inspiration for the legend.
The Mythological Kraken
The Kraken first emerged in Scandinavian folklore, appearing in Norse sagas as early as the 13th century under the name hafgufa, or “sea mist.” Early accounts described a creature so vast that its surfacing body was often mistaken for a chain of islands or floating land. This confusion was central to the terror, as the creature was said to lure unsuspecting sailors to their doom. In 1555, the Swedish cartographer Olaus Magnus included a massive, serpentine sea monster on his famous map, the Carta Marina, reinforcing the idea of such beasts.
Later descriptions by the Danish-Norwegian bishop Erik Pontoppidan in 1752 solidified the Kraken’s image as a destructive force. Pontoppidan detailed a monster with a circumference of a mile and a half that created massive whirlpools when it submerged, capable of dragging the largest man-of-war to the seafloor. This terrifying portrayal found its way into literature, most famously in Jules Verne’s 1870 novel Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea. In the book, the submarine Nautilus crew battles a colossal cephalopod, establishing the creature’s place in popular culture as the ultimate oceanic terror.
The Zoological Candidate
The answer to the Kraken’s existence lies in the discovery of the Giant Squid, scientifically named Architeuthis dux. For a long time, the only evidence of this animal was fragmented remains, such as enormous beaks found in the stomachs of Sperm Whales or massive carcasses that occasionally washed ashore. The scientific community finally accepted the Giant Squid’s reality in 1857, when Danish naturalist Japetus Steenstrup formally described the species based on a specimen’s beak and tissue fragments. The transition from myth to confirmed species was slow due to the animal’s deep-sea habitat.
The existence of a second, even more massive deep-sea cephalopod, the Colossal Squid (Mesonychoteuthis hamiltoni), further validates the Kraken legend. While the Giant Squid is the longest invertebrate, the Colossal Squid is the largest in terms of mass, with confirmed specimens weighing up to 495 kilograms. This Antarctic species, found primarily in the Southern Ocean, possesses a heavier, wider body than its cousin, offering a secondary candidate for the mythical inspiration.
Deep-Sea Biology of the Giant Squid
The Giant Squid’s biology explains why it was mythologized by early sailors. Female Architeuthis dux can reach a total length of approximately 13 meters (43 feet), with the maximum reliably reported length near 15 meters (49 feet). This sheer scale makes it one of the largest invertebrates on the planet. The squid’s massive arms and tentacles are lined with suckers ringed with sharp, chitinous teeth, which leave characteristic circular scars on its primary predator.
To survive in the abyssal zone, typically between 300 and 600 meters, the Giant Squid has evolved remarkable adaptations. It achieves neutral buoyancy without a swim bladder by maintaining a high concentration of ammonium ions in its body tissues. This chemical adaptation makes the creature less dense than the surrounding seawater, allowing it to drift effortlessly without expending much energy. Perhaps the most striking feature is its eyes, which can measure up to 25 centimeters (10 inches) in diameter, representing the largest eyes in the animal kingdom. These immense visual organs are specialized for detecting the faint bioluminescent flashes of prey in the ocean’s dark depths.
The relationship between the Giant Squid and the Sperm Whale (Physeter macrocephalus) provides scientists with much of what is known about the creature. Sperm Whales dive to extreme depths to hunt these cephalopods, and their stomach contents and body scars often yield physical evidence. Scientists finally captured the first live images of a Giant Squid in its natural habitat in 2004, confirming that the real animal, though less aggressive than the myth, is every bit the magnificent giant of the deep.