But as far as is publicly known, the colossal squid has never been observed alive in its natural, deep-water habitat, although a number of such recordings of the giant squid have been made in recent years.
People have seen colossal squid, but not very often. Colossal squid live in the Southern Ocean near Antarctica, and it was not until 1981 when the first whole animal was found. It was captured by a trawler near the coast of Antarctica. Since then a few more have been captured by fishermen.
A giant squid 3.35 metres in length has been found alive on a shore in western Japan. Japanese authorities recognized straight away that this was no ordinary seaside discovery as these elusive creatures inhabit the deep ocean and aren't know to just pop up for a visit.
They are also very rarely captured. The first report of a colossal squid was in 1925, when the head and arms were discovered in a sperm whale stomach. Since then, a total of only eight adult colossal squid have been reported, and six of those were remains recovered from the stomachs of caught whales.
Total number of specimens
Guerra & González (2009) reported that the total number of recorded giant squid specimens stood at 624. Guerra et al. (2011) gave an updated figure of 677 specimens (see table below). Paxton (2016a) put the total at around 700 as of 2015, of which c. 460 had been measured in some way.
Its 3.5-hour dissection at the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa was live streamed on YouTube. Since then, several more colossal squid have been filmed or photographed alive at the surface.
The giant squid remains largely a mystery to scientists despite being the biggest invertebrate on Earth. The largest of these elusive giants ever found measured 59 feet in length and weighed nearly a ton.
The colossal squid, with its half-ton mass and razor-sharp tentacle hooks, seems pretty fierce. But new research suggests that the school-bus sized cephalopods are actually pretty mellow.
Most southern Sperm Whales are covered with scars from colossal squid hooks. Other diving mammals (including the southern elephant seal) and large Southern Ocean predators feed on juvenile colossal squid, but the sperm whale is the only species known to take adults.
A tour group exploring New Zealand's rugged coastline recently came across a "once-in-a-lifetime" sighting when they found the partially buried remains of a giant squid (Architeuthis dux) washed up on the beach.
A massive squid has been caught on video attacking a Greenpeace submarine in the Bering Sea. The squid can be seen in a Vine video lashing at the submarine with its tentacles, before it fires a burst of ink and swims away from the underwater vessel.
A giant squid of over three metres was sighted alive on a shore in western Japan on Wednesday. Giant squid live in the deep sea, and is unusual for it to be washed ashore alive. The squid has now been transported to a local aquarium.
Most recently, on 16 August 2022, a giant squid washed up on Scarborough Beach in the Western Cape of South Africa. It measured more than four metres, although the massive invertebrates can reach a length of up to three times that. Experts from Iziko Museums collected samples from the squid for further study.
The story has been called the only substantiated report of a giant squid killing humans. However, other authors have called it into question, considering it an urban legend.
The biggest known giant squid was 12 metres long, but their average length is 7.3 metres, and most individuals are shorter than 9.2. Its archenemy, the sperm whale, has a recorded maximum size of 24 metres, but 95 percent of these whales are shorter than 15 metres.
The Colossal Squid's natural predator, the Sperm Whale, is one of the playable sharks in Hungry Shark Evolution.
It's thought that giant, colossal and Humboldt squid are aggressive, opportunistic creatures that prey on anything that comes their way -- from easy meals of fish and shrimp to a more sporting hunt of other large cephalopods and whales. The Humboldt, specifically, are known to be fierce, cannibalistic fighters.
They are actually able to count, solve problems, recognize patterns, and communicate through a number of signals. Though colorblind, they are also able to instantly change colors, using different colors on their upper and lower bodies to blend into different backgrounds and attract potential mates.
The Humboldt squid is also known as the red devil, or the wolf of the ocean. It is so deadly that even its suckers are covered in sharp teeth.
While there is no evidence of colossal squid preying on sharks, they do go after some pretty big fish, and even other species of deep sea squid.
Although squid ink isn't poisonous, it may carry some risks. Eating food made with squid ink can cause an allergic reaction similar to seafood allergy. If you have a shellfish or squid allergy, avoid any foods with squid ink.
The biggest giant squid ever found was almost 43 feet (13 m) long, including its tentacles — that's about as long as a semi-trailer.
Bishop Erik Pontoppidan describes the Kraken as the world's largest animal (a circumference of 2.5km) in his work, The natural history of Norway(1752; 1752-1753).
Whereas the kraken was described by Egede as having "many Heads and a Number of Claws", the creature is also depicted to have spikes or horns, at least in illustrations of creatures which commentators have conjectured to be krakens.