Are giant squids really just a legend? The giant kraken is a terrifying monster. Hypothesis of the appearance of the Kraken

On the left side of the image you can see a mosaic of images taken by the Cassini spacecraft in the near-infrared range. The photo shows the polar seas and sunlight reflecting off their surface. The reflection is located in the southern part of the Kraken Sea, the largest body of water on Titan. This reservoir is not filled with water at all, but with liquid methane and a mixture of other hydrocarbons. On the right side of the image you can see images of the Kraken Sea taken by Cassini's radar. Kraken is the name of a mythical monster that lived in northern seas. This name seems to hint at the hopes astrobiologists have for this mysterious alien sea.

Could life exist on Saturn's large moon Titan? This question is forcing astrobiologists and chemists to think very carefully and creatively about the chemistry of life and how it might differ on other planets from the chemistry of life on Earth. In February, a team of Cornell University researchers, including chemical engineering graduate student James Stevenson, planetary scientist Jonathan Lunin, and chemical engineer Paulette Clancy, published a groundbreaking paper suggesting that living cell membranes can form in the exotic chemical environment present on this amazing satellite.

In many ways, Titan is Earth's twin. It is the second largest satellite in solar system, it is larger than the planet Mercury. Like Earth, it has a dense atmosphere, the pressure of which at the surface is slightly higher than on Earth. Apart from Earth, Titan is the only object in our solar system that has accumulations of liquid on its surface. NASA's Cassini spacecraft discovered an abundance of lakes and even rivers in Titan's polar regions. The largest lake or sea is called the Kraken Sea, its area exceeds the area of ​​the Caspian Sea on Earth. From observations made by spacecraft and laboratory experiments, scientists have determined that Titan's atmosphere contains many complex organic compounds, from which life is built.

Looking at all this, one might get the impression that Titan is an extremely habitable place. The name “Kraken,” the name given to the mythical sea monster, reflects the secret hopes of astrobiologists. But Titan is the alien twin of the Earth. It is almost 10 times further from the sun than Earth, and its surface temperature is a chilling -180 degrees Celsius. As we know, water is an integral part of life, but on the surface of Titan it is as hard as rock. The water ice there is like the silicon rocks on Earth that form the outer layers of the earth's crust.

The liquid filling the lakes and rivers of Titan is not water, but liquid methane, most likely mixed with other substances such as liquid ethane, which are present in a gaseous state on Earth. If there is life in the seas of Titan, it does not resemble our ideas about life. This will be a completely alien form of life for us, the organic molecules of which are dissolved not in water, but in liquid methane. Is this even possible in principle?

A team from Cornell University examined one key part of this thorny question by looking at the possibility of cell membranes existing in liquid methane. All living cells are essentially a system of self-sustaining chemical reactions, enclosed in a membrane. Scientists believe that cell membranes appeared at the very beginning of the history of life on Earth, and their formation may have been the first step towards the origin of life.

Here on Earth, everyone knows about cell membranes from a school biology course. These membranes are made of large molecules called phospholipids. All phospholipid molecules have a head and a tail. The head is a phosphate group, where a phosphorus atom is bonded to several oxygen atoms. The tail consists of one or more strands of carbon atoms, 15–20 atoms long, to which hydrogen atoms are attached on each side. The head, due to the negative charge of the phosphate group, has an uneven distribution of electrical charge, which is why it is called polar. The tail, on the other hand, is electrically neutral.

Here on Earth, cell membranes consist of phospholipid molecules dissolved in water. The basis of phospholipids are carbon atoms (gray), plus they also contain hydrogen atoms (sky blue), phosphorus ( yellow color), oxygen (red) and nitrogen (blue). Due to the positive charge imparted by the choline group, which contains a nitrogen atom, and the negative charge of the phosphate group, the phospholipid head is polar and attracts water molecules. Thus, it is hydrophilic. The hydrocarbon tail is electrically neutral, so it is hydrophobic. The structure of the cell membrane depends on the electrical properties of phospholipids and water. Phospholipid molecules form a double layer - the hydrophilic heads in contact with water are on the outside, and the hydrophobic tails face inward, connecting to each other.

These electrical properties of phospholipid molecules determine how they behave in aqueous solution. If we talk about the electrical properties of water, then its molecule is polar. The electrons in a water molecule are more attracted to the oxygen atom than to the two hydrogen atoms. Therefore, on the side of the two hydrogen atoms, the water molecule has a small positive charge, and on the side of the oxygen atom, it has a small negative charge. These polar properties of water cause it to be attracted to the polar head of the phospholipid molecule, which is hydrophilic, and at the same time repelled by the non-polar tails, which are hydrophobic.

When phospholipid molecules are dissolved in water, the combined electrical properties of both substances cause the phospholipid molecules to form a membrane. The membrane closes into a small sphere called a liposome. Phospholipid molecules form a bilayer two molecules thick. Polar hydrophilic molecules form the outer part of the membrane bilayer, which is in contact with water on the inner and outer surfaces of the membrane. The hydrophobic tails are connected to each other in the inner part of the membrane. Although the phospholipid molecules remain stationary relative to their layer, with their heads facing outward and tails facing inward, the layers can still move relative to each other, giving the membrane sufficient mobility that life requires.

Phospholipid bilayer membranes are the basis of all cell membranes on earth. Even the liposome itself can grow, reproduce itself and facilitate the occurrence of certain chemical reactions necessary for the existence of living organisms. This is why some biochemists believe that the formation of liposomes was the first step towards the emergence of life. In any case, the formation of cell membranes must have occurred at an early stage of the origin of life on Earth.

On the left is water, a polar solvent consisting of hydrogen (H) and oxygen (O) atoms. Oxygen attracts electrons more strongly than hydrogen, so the hydrogen side of the molecule has a positive net charge, and the oxygen side has a negative net charge. Delta (δ) denotes a partial charge, that is, less than a whole positive or negative charge. On the right is methane, the symmetrical arrangement of hydrogen atoms (H) around a central carbon atom (C) makes it a non-polar solvent.

If life exists on Titan in one form or another, be it a sea monster or (most likely) microbes, then they cannot do without cell membranes, like all life on Earth. Could phospholipid bilayer membranes form in liquid methane on Titan? The answer is no. Unlike water, electric charge Methane molecules are distributed evenly. Methane does not have the polar properties of water, so it cannot attract the heads of phospholipid molecules. This ability is necessary for phospholipids to form the terrestrial cell membrane.

Experiments have been carried out in which phospholipids are dissolved in non-polar liquids at Earth's room temperature. Under such conditions, phospholipids form a “reverse” bilayer membrane. The polar heads of phospholipid molecules are connected to each other in the center, attracted by their charges. The non-polar tails form the outer surface of the "reverse" membrane in contact with the non-polar solvent.

On the left - phospholipids are dissolved in water, in a polar solvent. They form a bilayer membrane, with polar, hydrophilic heads facing water and hydrophobic tails facing each other. On the right - phospholipids are dissolved in a non-polar solvent at earthly room temperature, under such conditions they form an inverse membrane with the polar heads facing each other and the non-polar tails facing outwards towards the non-polar solvent.

Could living organisms on Titan have a reverse phospholipid membrane? The Cornell team concluded that such a membrane is not suitable for life for two reasons. First, at the cryogenic temperatures of liquid methane, the tails of the phospholipids become rigid, thereby depriving the formed reverse membrane of any mobility necessary for the existence of life. Second, two key constituents of phospholipids, phosphorus and oxygen, are likely absent from Titan's methane lakes. In their search for cell membranes that might exist on Titan, the Cornell team had to go beyond the familiar high school biology course.

Although phospholipid membranes have been ruled out, scientists believe that any cell membrane on Titan would still be similar to the reverse phospholipid membrane produced in the laboratory. Such a membrane will consist of polar molecules connected to each other due to the difference in charges dissolved in non-polar liquid methane. What kind of molecules could these be? For answers, the researchers turned to data obtained from Cassini and from laboratory experiments that recreated chemical composition atmosphere of Titan.

It is known that Titan's atmosphere has a very complex chemical composition. It mainly consists of nitrogen and methane in gaseous form. When the Cassini spacecraft analyzed the composition of the atmosphere using spectroscopy, it was discovered that the atmosphere contained traces of a wide variety of carbon, nitrogen and hydrogen compounds called nitriles and amines. The researchers simulated the chemistry of Titan's atmosphere in the laboratory by exposing a mixture of nitrogen and methane to energy sources that mimic Titan's sunlight. The result was a broth of organic molecules called tholins. They consist of compounds of hydrogen and carbon, that is, hydrocarbons, as well as nitriles and amines.

Researchers at Cornell University identified nitriles and amines as potential candidates for the formation of Titanian cell membranes. Both groups of molecules are polar, which allows them to combine, thereby forming a membrane in non-polar liquid methane due to the polarity of the nitrogen groups that make up these molecules. They concluded that suitable molecules would need to be much smaller than phospholipids so that they could form mobile membranes at temperatures where methane exists in the liquid phase. They looked at nitriles and amines containing chains of 3 to 6 carbon atoms. Groups containing nitrogen are called azo groups, so the team gave the Titanian liposome analogue the name "azotosome."
Synthesizing azotosomes for experimental purposes is expensive and difficult, since experiments must be carried out at cryogenic temperatures of liquid methane. However, since the proposed molecules had already been well studied in other studies, the Cornell team felt it was justified to turn to computational chemistry to determine whether the proposed molecules could form a mobile membrane in liquid methane. Computer models have already been successfully used to study the familiar cell membranes made of phospholipids.

It was found that acrylonitrile could be a possible basis for the formation of cell membranes in liquid methane on Titan. It is known to be present in Titan's atmosphere at a concentration of 10 ppm, plus it was synthesized in the laboratory while simulating the effects of energy sources on Titan's nitrogen-methane atmosphere. Because this small polar molecule is able to dissolve in liquid methane, it is a candidate compound that could form cell membranes under the alternative biochemistry conditions on Titan. Blue – carbon atoms, blue – nitrogen atoms, white – hydrogen atoms.

Polar acrylonitrile molecules line up in chains, head to tail, forming membranes in non-polar liquid methane. Blue – carbon atoms, blue – nitrogen atoms, white – hydrogen atoms.

Computer modeling carried out by our research team showed that some substances could be excluded because they would not form a membrane, would be too rigid, or would form solids. However, modeling has shown that some substances can form membranes with suitable properties. One of these substances was acrylonitrile, the presence of which in the atmosphere of Titan in a concentration of 10 ppm was discovered by Cassini. Despite the enormous temperature difference between cryogenic azotosomes and liposomes existing at room temperature, simulations demonstrated that they have remarkably similar properties of stability and response to mechanical stress. Thus, cell membranes suitable for living organisms can exist in liquid methane.

Computational chemistry modeling shows that acrylonitrile and several other small polar organic molecules containing nitrogen atoms can form "nitrosomes" in liquid methane. Azotosomes are small, sphere-shaped membranes resembling liposomes formed from phospholipids dissolved in water. Computer modeling shows that acrylonitrile-based azotosomes would be both stable and flexible at cryogenic temperatures in liquid methane, giving them the necessary properties to function as cell membranes for hypothetical Titanian living organisms or any other organisms on a planet with liquid methane on the surface . The azotosome in the image is 9 nanometers in size, which is roughly the size of a virus. Blue – carbon atoms, blue – nitrogen atoms, white – hydrogen atoms.

Scientists at Cornell University see the findings as a first step toward demonstrating that life in liquid methane is possible and developing methods for future space probes to detect such life on Titan. If life in liquid nitrogen is possible, then the conclusions that follow from this go far beyond the boundaries of Titan.

When searching for habitable conditions in our galaxy, astronomers typically look for exoplanets whose orbits fall within the star's habitable zone, which is defined by a narrow range of distances within which the temperature on the surface of an Earth-like planet will allow liquid water to exist. If life in liquid methane is possible, then the stars must also have a methane habitable zone - an area where methane on the surface of a planet or its satellite can be in the liquid phase, creating conditions for the existence of life. Thus, the number of habitable planets in our galaxy will increase sharply. Perhaps on some planets, methane life has evolved into complex forms that we can hardly imagine. Who knows, maybe some of them even look like sea monsters.

Stories constantly appear about the Kraken, which are full of fiction. For example, it is assumed that there is such a creature as the Great Kraken, living in the Bermuda Triangle. Then the fact that ships disappear there becomes understandable.

Who is this Kraken? Some consider him an underwater monster, some - a demon, and some - a higher mind, or supermind. However, scientists still received true information at the beginning of the last century, when real krakens ended up in their hands. Until that moment, it was easier for scientists to deny their existence, because until the 20th century they only had eyewitness stories to think about.

Does the kraken really exist? Yes, this is a real organism. This was first confirmed at the end of the 19th century. Fishermen fishing near the shore noticed something very bulky, firmly grounded. They made sure that the carcass was not moving and approached it. The dead kraken was taken to the science center. Over the next decade, several more similar bodies were recovered.

They were first studied by Verrill, an American zoologist, and the animals owe their name to him. Today they are called octopuses. These are terrible and huge monsters, they belong to the class of mollusks, that is, in fact, relatives of the most harmless snails. They usually live at depths from 200 to 1000 meters. Somewhat deeper in the ocean live octopuses 30-40 meters long. This is not an assumption, but a fact, since the actual size of the kraken was calculated from the size of the suckers on the skin of whales.

In the legends they spoke about it like this: a block erupted from the water, engulfed the ship with tentacles and carried it to the bottom. It was there that the kraken from legends fed on drowned sailors.

Kraken is an ellipsoidal substance, made of a jelly-like substance, shiny and having a grayish, transparent color. It can reach 100 meters in diameter, while it practically does not react to any stimuli. She doesn't feel pain either. It is, in fact, a huge jellyfish, similar in appearance to an octopus. She has a head a large number of very long tentacles with suckers in two rows. Even one kraken tentacle can destroy a ship.

There are three hearts in the body, one main, two gills, as they drive blood, which is blue, through the gills. They also have kidneys, liver, and stomach. The creatures do not have bones, but they have a brain. The eyes are huge, complexly arranged, approximately like those of a person. Sense organs are well developed.

For centuries, people have told tales of sea monsters with giant tentacles that pull people to the bottom of the sea. But is there truth in these stories?

For centuries, fishermen from Norway and Greenland have told of a fearsome sea monster, the Kraken. It was reported that this huge creature had giant tentacles that could pull you off your boat and drag you into the depths of the ocean. You can't see what's floating in the water because the dark ocean depths hide many secrets. But if you suddenly start catching a lot of fish while fishing, you should run: the Kraken may be under you, it scares the fish to the surface.

In 1857, thanks to the Danish naturalist Iapetus Stenstrup, the Kraken began to emerge from myth into reality. He was examining a large squid beak that was about 8 cm (3 inches) that had washed up on the Danish coast several years earlier. Initially he could only guess at the animal's overall size, but he soon received parts of another specimen from the Bahamas. When Steenstrup finally published the results of his research, he concluded that the Kraken was real, and that it was a type of giant squid. He named it "Architeuthis Dux", which is Latin for "giant squid".

Only after Steenstrup described the creature could scientists begin to unravel whether there was truth to the old myths. Was this huge squid really as dangerous as the legends people believed in? Where did it come from and what else is hiding in the dark depths of the ocean?

Photo 1. Engraving of the Kraken, 1870

The Kraken has captivated people's imaginations for hundreds of years. The Danish bishop Erik Pontoppidan wrote about this in detail in 1755 in the book Materials for the Natural History of Norway. According to the fishermen, wrote Pontoppidan, it was the size of “a small island” and its back was “half an English mile”.

Its prehensile tentacles were only part of the problem. “After the monster was on the surface of the water for a short time, it began to slowly sink, and then the danger became even greater than before, because its movement created a destructive whirlpool, and everything that was nearby sank under the water along with it.”

In different nations these monsters different names. Greek mythology describes him as Scylla, a 6-headed sea goddess who ruled the rocks on one side of a narrow strait. Swim too close and it will try to eat you. In Homer's Odyssey, Odysseus was forced to sail alongside Scylla to avoid an even worse monster. As a result, six of his people were eaten by Scylla.

Even science fiction writers did not sin to mention this monster. In Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, Jules Verne describes a giant squid that is very similar to the Kraken. He “could entangle a ship of five thousand tons and bury it in the depths of the ocean.”

Photo 2. Giant squid beak described by Iapetus Stenstrup

Since Stenstrup's original discovery, approximately 21 giant squid have been described. None of them were alive, parts of them were found, and sometimes whole specimens washed ashore. Even now, no one is sure how big the giant squid can grow.

For example, in 1933 the new kind named "A. clarkei" was described by Guy Colbuorn Robson, it was found on a beach in Yorkshire (England) and was a nearly intact specimen. It "belonged to no species hitherto described" but was so badly decomposed that Robeson could not even determine its sex. Others were described after they were found in the bellies of sperm whales, which apparently ate them.

It is believed that giant squids can grow up to 13 meters in length, or even 15 meters including their tentacles. One estimate suggests they could reach up to 18 meters, but this may be a serious overestimation, says John Ablett of the Natural History Museum in London. This is because in the sun, the squid's tissue can act like rubber, so it can be stretched.

This again suggests that right now no one can say how big the giant squid can grow. Due to the elusive nature of the squid, complete specimens have never been found. They spend most of their time at depths of 400 to 1000 m. They can remain partially out of reach of hungry sperm whales, but this is a partial success at best. Whales are quite capable of diving to such depths and giant squids are practically defenseless against them.

Squids have one advantage. Their eyes are the largest of all animals: they are so large in size that they can be as large as plates, up to 27cm (11 inches) in diameter. These giant peepers are believed to help spot whales at great distances, giving the squid time to make a diversionary maneuver.

In turn, giant squid prey on fish, crustaceans and small squid, all of which were found in the stomachs of the studied specimens. It even turned out that the remains of another giant squid were found in the stomach of one giant squid, and it was then suggested that they sometimes resort to cannibalism, although it is not clear how often.

Photo 3. Samples of the remains of the first giant squid

If you look at the squid, you can see that they have no problems catching prey. They have two long tentacles that can grab their prey. They also have eight arms covered with dozens of suckers, the edges of which have horny rings with sharp teeth. If an animal is caught in a net, these suckers are enough to prevent it from escaping, says Clyde Roper, a giant squid hunter at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington.

It sounds strange, but none of the evidence suggests that giant squids are active predators. Some big killers, such as the Pacific polar shark, moves slowly to conserve his energy. They only collect garbage after eating. In theory, giant squids could do the same thing.

Photo 4. The squid has eight arms covered with sharp suction cups

This idea came to life in 2004. Filled with determination to find in wildlife living giant squid, Tsumeni Kubodera of the National Science Museum in Tokyo, Japan, together with whale expert Kioki Mori, used known sperm whale sites as places where the giant squid could be found. They managed to film a live giant squid off the Ogasawara Islands in the North Pacific Ocean.

Kubodera and Mori baited the giant squid and found it attacking horizontally with its tentacles extended in front of it. After the squid took the bait, its tentacles wrapped themselves “in an irregular ball, much in the same way that pythons rapidly wrap several coils around their prey immediately after attacking,” their report said.

Photo 5. First video footage of giant squids

The key to this, said team member Edith Widder of the Ocean Research and Conservation Association in Fort Pierce, Florida, was stealth. They suspected that electric motors and most submerged chambers repel squid. Instead, they used a contraption called the Medusa, which had a battery-powered camera attached to it. The jellyfish emitted a blue light intended to mimic the light emitted by a giant jellyfish called Atolla. When these jellyfish are pursued by predators, they use their light to lure any large creatures lurking nearby to swoop in and attack the attacker.

Something about the nutrition of the giant squid
The footage from the first eight-hour dive was largely blank, but on the second attempt, suddenly the huge arms of a giant squid flashed onto the screen. The squid only took very small, gentle bites.

After a few more tries, they saw the squid in its entirety and noticed it wrapping its arms around the camera platform. This definitely confirmed that he is indeed an active predator.

To further entice the squid, Kubodera gave it a small squid as bait. He and two others then spent 400 hours in the cramped submarine to get even more footage and see the creature with their own eyes.

The giant squid actually attacked the bait "without tearing it apart as you might think," Widder says. The squid fed for 23 minutes, but it made very small, gentle bites with its parrot-like beak, gradually chewing. Widder believes the giant squid cannot eat its prey quickly because it might suffocate.

Photo 6. Preserved male giant squid

Giant squids are clearly not quite the scary monsters they are usually made out to be. They only attack their prey, and Clyde Roper believes they are not aggressive towards humans. As far as we can tell about them, they are very gentle giants, according to Roper, who calls them "magnificent creatures."

Although they have been known for over 150 years, we still know almost nothing about their behavioral and social patterns, what they like to eat, or where they usually travel. As far as we know, they are solitary animals, Roper says, but their social lives remain a mystery.

We don't even know where or how often they mate. While most male cephalopods have a modified arm for storing sperm, male giant squids have an external penis up to 1 m in length.

In an attempt to uncover their mysterious mating habits, two Australian researchers studied several specimens of female giant squid in 1997. Their results show that the giant squid mates forcefully. They concluded that the male uses his muscular and elongated penis to "inject" a capsule of sperm called a spermatophore directly into the females' hands, leaving shallow wounds. More recent research suggests that the spermatophores do this partly themselves, using enzymes to break through the female's skin.

It is not yet known how females access this sperm to fertilize their eggs. They may tear the skin open with their beak, or the skin covering them will burst and release sperm.

It is clear that giant squids are very successful in producing offspring. They can live in every ocean except the polar regions, and there certainly must be a lot of them to satisfy the needs of many sperm whales. It's likely there could be millions, Widder says. She says that people were clearly exploring the depths of the ocean, but they were frightened when they saw creatures larger than them.

What's more, it was revealed last year that all 21 species described since 1857 actually belong to the same species. Study of DNA sequences of 43 tissue samples taken from different countries world, showed that these individual species could interbreed freely.

This may be due to the fact that young squid larvae are carried by powerful currents throughout the oceans. This may also explain why giant squids living on opposite sides of the planet can be almost genetically identical. John Ablett says that the error is understandable, since many of the supposed species originally described had only isolated animal parts.

"It's possible that the entire global population of giant squid came from a population that was increasing, but there was some kind of disruption," Ablett says. Nobody knows what caused their numbers to decline. Genetics only indicate that the population of these squids grew for some time between 110,000 and 730,000 years ago.

Photo 7. A specimen of a preserved giant squid (New Zealand Museum)

So maybe this giant squid wasn't a deep sea monster, or are there other contenders?

The colossal squid, first described in 1925, looks like a promising candidate for a giant sea monster. It could grow even larger than the giant squid. The largest specimen ever taken was only 8 meters long, but it was most likely a young specimen and did not reach its full length.

Instead of teeth, he had spinning hooks with which he caught fish. But unlike giant squids, it is most likely an inactive predator. Instead, the giant squid swims in circles and uses its hooks to catch its prey.

Moreover, giant squids only live in Antarctic seas, so they cannot be the inspiration for the Norse legends of the Kraken.

Photo 8. Humboldt squid

Much more violent are the small Humboldt squid, which are known as "red devils" because of their color when they attack. They are more aggressive than the giant squid and are known to attack humans.

Roper once had a lucky escape when Humboldt squids "pierced my wetsuit with their sharp beaks." Several years ago he told the story of a Mexican fisherman who fell overboard where Humboldt squid were actively feeding. “As soon as he reached the surface of the water, his mate was trying to pull him aboard when he was attacked from below, becoming a meal for the hungry squid,” says Roper. “I considered myself very lucky that I managed to rise from the water unharmed.”

However, while Humboldt squid is clearly dangerous, even with maximum length they are hardly larger than a person. Thus, they do not pose a serious threat if you happen to be in the water with them. They, of course, will not be able to drag fishermen off their boats, as the legends of the Kraken say.

In general, there is little evidence of truly monstrous squid living in the ocean today. But there is reason to suspect that squid could reach colossal sizes in the distant past.

Photo 9. Fossilized spine of an ichthyosaur, maybe it was killed by a huge squid?

According to Mark McMenamin of Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley, Massachusetts, there may have been dinosaurs during the early era of dinosaurs. colossal squid up to 30 m in length. These prehistoric Krakens may have hunted ichthyosaurs, giant marine reptiles that looked like modern dolphins.

McMenamin first thought about this in 2011, when he discovered nine fossilized ichthyosaur vertebrae arranged in a row that he claims resemble the pattern of "pumping discs of the main tentacles." He suggests that the Kraken "killed the sea reptiles and then dragged the carcasses into his lair" for the feast, leaving behind the bones in an almost geometric pattern.

This is a far-fetched idea. In his defense, McMenamin points out that modern cephalopods are some of the most intelligent creatures in the sea, and that octopuses are known to collect rocks in their lair. However, its critics point out that there is no evidence that modern cephalopods hoard their prey.

Now McMenamin has found a fossil that he believes is part of the beak of an ancient squid. He presented his findings to the Geological Society of America. "We think we see a very close connection between the deep structure of a particular group of modern squid and this Triassic giant," says McMenamin. "This tells us that there were periods in the past when squid became very large."

However, other paleontologists continue to criticize him. It is still not clear whether giant squids actually lived in the seas in the past.

Photo 10. Is the fossilized fragment really part of the beak of a huge squid?

However, today it would seem that we have all the necessary tools to make a monster out of a giant squid. But instead, our perception of the real animal is clouded by stories where the Kraken is a living creature.

Perhaps squid remain so mysterious, almost mythical, because they are elusive and hide so deep in the oceans. "People need monsters," says Roper. Giant squids really look so big and such “creepy-looking animals” that it is easy to turn them into predatory animals in our imagination.

But even if giant squids are gentle giants, the ocean itself is still shrouded in mystery. Only 5% of the ocean has been explored, and new discoveries are still being made.

We don't always fully understand what's down there, says Widder. It's entirely possible that there is something much bigger and scarier than giant squids lurking in the depths far beyond human reach.

Divers found a huge squid on a New Zealand beach
Divers visiting New Zealand's south coast in Wellington were looking for a good place to enjoy spearfishing on Saturday morning (August 25, 2018) when they spotted one of the ocean's most majestic animals - a dead but fully intact giant squid.

Photo. Divers near the found giant squid

"After we went on the dive, we went back to the squid and took a tape measure and measured it at 4.2 metres," one of the divers, Daniel Aplin, told the New Zealand Herald.

A spokesman from New Zealand's Department of Conservation said the divers most likely found a giant squid (Architeuthis dux) rather than an Antarctic giant squid (Mesonychoteuthis hamiltoni).

Both types of squid are formidable sea ​​creatures, the giant squid typically reaches 16 feet (5 m) in length, according to the Smithsonian Institution, the Antarctic giant squid reaches more than 30 feet (10 m) in length, according to International Union nature conservation.

Aplin said the squid appeared unharmed except for a scratch that was so tiny that the diver "didn't think it killed him."

Kraken- a legendary sea monster, reports of which have come down from ancient times. Legends about the kraken claim that this creature lives off the coast of Norway and Iceland. Opinions about appearance The krakens disperse. There is evidence describing it as a gigantic squid, while other descriptions present a monster in the form of an octopus.Originally this word meant any animal of a deformed shape that was very different from its own kind. However, later it began to be used in many languages ​​with a specific meaning - “legendary sea monster.”

The Kraken exists

The first written mentions of encounters with the kraken were recorded by the Danish bishop Erik Pontoppidan. In 1752, he recorded various oral traditions about this mysterious creature.

The bishop in his writings presents the kraken as a crab fish with gigantic size and capable of dragging ships into the ocean depths. The size of this creature was truly incredible; it was comparable to a small island. The giant kraken was very dangerous precisely because of its size and the speed with which it sank to the bottom. Its downward movement generated a strong whirlpool, leaving the ship no chance of salvation. The Kraken usually hibernated for seabed. When he slept, a large number of fish gathered around him. In the old days, according to some stories, the most desperate fishermen, taking great risks, cast their nets directly over the kraken while it was sleeping. The kraken is believed to be responsible for many maritime disasters. Sailors in the old days had no doubt that the kraken existed.

The Mystery of Atlantis

Since the 18th century, a number of zoologists have put forward the theory that the kraken could be a giant octopus. Carl Linnaeus, a famous naturalist, in his book “The System of Nature” classified real-life marine organisms, and he also introduced the kraken into his system, which he presented as a cephalopod (however, he later removed it from there).

In this regard, it should be remembered that many mysterious stories often feature giant cephalopods like the kraken, which either act on someone's orders or even of their own free will. The authors of modern films also often use these motifs. Thus, the film “Leaders of Atlantis”, released in 1978, includes in its plot a kraken, like a giant octopus or squid, which drags the ship of treasure hunters who encroached on the forbidden statue to the bottom, and the crew itself - to Atlantis, which miraculously exists in the ocean. In this film, the mystery of Atlantis and the Kraken are intricately interconnected.

Giant Kraken Squid

In 1861, a piece of the body of a giant squid was discovered, which led many to believe that the giant squid was the kraken. Over the next twenty years, many more remains of similar creatures were discovered on the northern coast of Europe. Probably changed at sea temperature regime, and giant squids, which had previously been hiding in depths inaccessible to humans, rose to the surface. The stories of fishermen who hunted sperm whales say that on the carcasses of the sperm whales that they caught, there were traces of giant tentacles.

In the 20th century, they repeatedly tried to catch the legendary kraken, but only young specimens were caught, the length of which was no more than 5 m. Sometimes fragments of the torso of larger specimens were caught. And only in 2004, Japanese oceanologists managed to photograph a fairly large specimen - 10 meters.

The giant squids were given the name Architeuthis. The real giant squid has never been caught. A number of museums display well-preserved remains of individuals found already dead. In particular, the London Natural History Museum displays a nine-meter squid stored in formaldehyde. In the city of Melbourne, a seven-meter squid frozen in a piece of ice is presented.

However, even squids of this size cannot cause significant damage to ships, however, there is every reason to believe that giant squids living at depths are many times larger in size (there have been reports of 60-meter individuals), which allows some scientists to believe that that the giant kraken from Scandinavian myths may be a squid of unprecedented size.

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Perhaps the most famous sea monster is the kraken. According to legends, it lives off the coast of Norway and Iceland. There are different opinions about what his appearance is. Some describe it as a giant squid, others as an octopus. The first handwritten mention of the kraken can be found in the Danish bishop Erik Pontoppidan, who in 1752 recorded various oral legends about it. Initially, the word “kgake” was used to refer to any deformed animal that was very different from its own kind. Later it passed into many languages ​​and began to mean “legendary sea monster.”

In the bishop's writings, the kraken appears as a crab fish, of enormous size and capable of dragging ships to the bottom of the sea. Its dimensions were truly colossal, it was compared to a small island. Moreover, it was dangerous precisely because of its size and the speed with which it sank to the bottom. This created a strong whirlpool, which destroyed the ships. The kraken spent most of its time hibernating on the seabed, and then a huge number of fish swam around it. Some fishermen allegedly even took the risk and cast their nets directly over the sleeping kraken. The kraken is believed to be to blame for many maritime disasters.
According to Pliny the Younger, remoras surrounded the ships of the fleet of Mark Antony and Cleopatra, which to some extent contributed to his defeat.
In the XVIII-XIX centuries. Some zoologists have suggested that the kraken may be a giant octopus. Naturalist Carl Linnaeus, in his book “The System of Nature,” created a classification of real-life marine organisms, into which he introduced the kraken, presenting it as a cephalopod. A little later he crossed it out from there.

In 1861, a piece of the body of a huge squid was found. Over the next two decades, many remains of similar creatures were also discovered on the northern coast of Europe. This was due to the fact that the temperature regime in the sea changed, which forced the creatures to rise to the surface. According to the stories of some fishermen, the carcasses of sperm whales they caught also had marks resembling giant tentacles.
Throughout the 20th century. Repeated attempts were made to catch the legendary kraken. But it was possible to catch only young individuals whose height was approximately 5 m in length, or only parts of the bodies of larger individuals were caught. Only in 2004 did Japanese oceanologists photograph a fairly large specimen. Before that, for 2 years they monitored the routes of sperm whales, which eat squid. Finally, they managed to catch a giant squid with bait, whose length was 10 m. For four hours, the animal tried to escape
· 0 bait, and oceanologists took about several photographs that show that the squid has very aggressive behavior.
Giant squids are called architeuthis. To date, not a single living specimen has been caught. In several museums you can see the preserved remains of individuals that were discovered already dead. Thus, the London Museum of Quality History displays a nine-meter squid preserved in formaldehyde. A seven-meter squid is available to the general public in the Melbourne Aquarium, frozen in a piece of ice.
But can even such a giant squid harm ships? Its length can be more than 10 m.
Females are larger than males. The weight of squid reaches several hundred kilograms. This is not enough to damage a large ship. But giant squids are predatory and can still cause harm to swimmers or small boats.
In the movies, giant squids pierce the skin of ships with their tentacles, but in reality this is impossible, since they lack a skeleton, so they can only stretch and tear their prey. Outside aquatic environment They are very helpless, but in the water they have sufficient strength and can resist sea predators. Squids prefer to live on the bottom and rarely appear on the surface, but small individuals can jump out of the water to a fairly large height.
Giant squids have the largest eyes of any living creature. Their diameter reaches more than 30 cm. The tentacles are equipped with strong suction cups, the diameter of which is up to 5 cm. They help to firmly hold the prey. The composition of the bodies and Lu of the giant squid includes ammonium chloride (common alcohol), which preserves its zero honor. True, such squid should not be eaten.” All these features allow some scientists to believe that the giant squid may be the legendary kraken.