Giant squids are iconic animals. Squids by themselves are intelligent,
powerful, and alien-looking. Giant squids give grandeur, epic scale, and
mystery, having not been seen in their natural habitat until 2004. Although not
as long as a bootlace worm or as heavy as a colossal squid, they have become
legendary. Their corpses and fleeting sightings of their dying have created
legends in places from Norway
to Greece to Japan. The Norse sailors and Vikings prayed for
safety from the Kraken, a beast so powerful it is still part of modern popular
culture.
