The Kraken Shall Rise Again

Since ancestral time sailors and seamen have spoken of a huge tentacled monster emerging, during violent thunderstorms, from the unfathomable depths of the ocean. They called that creature "The Kraken". They were familiar with octopuses and squids, which were marine animals with tentacles, but The Kraken was considered a different species due to its gigantic size, larger than any other animal. At times The Kraken was thought to be a giant octopus, other times a giant squid. But most of the times, The Kraken was simply as sea monster.

At the dawn of scientific discoveries the academic world dismissed the tales of The Kraken as ridiculous, not even considering the carcasses of these creatures when, in rare instances, came ashore under low tide. Then, at some point, things changed.

Scientists were forced to focus on the topic after the number of carcasses of the alleged Kraken were found within short periods of time, and obviously the public opinion demanded answers.
It was established that The Kraken was a real species, and labeled as Giant Squid. This creature is still today one of the most elusive among the large animals living on Earth.

Scholars and researchers have been trying to observe the Giant Squid for years in its habitat, but have always failed. Those who claim to have seen it were mostly fishermen and sailors, the same witnesses who are rarely believed when they speak of sea serpents living in the seas.
The scientists spent millions of dollars organizing expeditions, but could never record a Giant Squid alive on camera. All the information we possess today come from the carcasses found ashore.

On September, 2004 a team of Japanese scientists lured a Giant Squid to the surface using a bait, and took more than 500 photographs before the creature set free and disappeared. The scientists were left with nothing more than a five meters tentacle attached to the bait.
The questions still haunting the researchers is what size a Giant Squid can reach. According to the scars found on whales lead to the idea that the oceanic depths may host creature a lot bigger than the ones found on shores. And again, is there only one species of Giant Squid, or more?

The Giant Squids living under the Antarctic continent belong to a species called Mesonychoteuthis Hamiltoni, which is believed to be bigger than any other Giant Squid observed so far. It seems that we have just seen the “cubs” of this creature, but their size was enough to name the Antarctic Squid “Colossal Squid.”

The term “Kraken” comes from the Norwegian “Krake” which means an unhealthy or twisted thing. In the German language Krake (plural) and Kraken (singular) mean octopus.

In the Icelandic saga Orvar-Oddr (XIII Century) there is one episode about a journey toward Helluland (Baffin Island) that leads the protagonists across the Greenland sea. There, they observe two enormous sea monsters called Hafgufa (Sea Mist) and Lyngbakr (Heather’s Back). The first is believed to refer to The Kraken.

After coming back from Greenland, the anonymous author of the KonungsSjuggsja or Natural History of Ancient Norway (circa 1250) describes in details the physical features of these two creatures, included their diet. The author suggested that there existed only two specimen, based on the fact that their sightings were limited only to that portion of the North Sea.
Carl Linnaeus classified The Kraken as a cephalopod, giving it the scientific name of Microcosmus Marinus in his Systema Naturae (1735.) In his last work, Fauna Suecica (1746), however, he calls it “Singulare Monstrum” or unique monster, that allegedly inhabited the Norwegian seas.

The legend of The Kraken keeps on to these days, as several reports continue to arrive, some of them quite interesting.

In 2012 marine biologist Edie Widder filmed what could be a Kraken, at about 2000 feet below the Pacific Ocean. Is this a proof of the existence of The Kraken? We know about the giant squids only because of their carcasses brought ashore by the currents. Like Widder put it, “We have so far managed to explore only 5% of the oceans, therefore what can exist into its depths is still an absolute mystery.”

On April 2, 2003 Kim Griggs writes about a colossal squid being filmed in the Antarctic waters, marking it as the very first example of an intact Mesonychoteuthis Hamiltoni.

Professor Steve O’Shea, an expert researcher of squid to the Auckland University of Technology, New Zealand, said to BBC,

“All that we knew about this species until today was that it lived within the depths around the Antarctica. Now we learned that it utilizes the water currents to come up to the surface, and that it can reach colossal dimensions.”

The Mesonychoteuthis Hamiltoni was discovered for the first time in 1925 after two tentacles were found inside the stomach of a sperm whale. At the moment there are six species that have been classified, five of which found inside the stomach of sperm whales while the sixth one entangled in a net at 6561-7200 feet deep into the ocean.

“Now we can state that [this squid] can be way larger than the giant squid, which then it is not the largest existing creature. By larger I don’t mean just ‘bigger’, but of a more extended magnitude. When alive, this animal must be one of the most terrifying predators of the sea. It is unrivaled in the oceans.”

O’Shea adds.
This squid has one of the biggest beaks known to man, and hooks at the end of each tentacles. These two weapons allow it to attack large fishes such as the Patagonia’s salmons or car fish, and even sperm whales.

Tsunemi Kubodera e Kyoichi Mori could capture, although temporarily, an adult specimen of the Giant Squid at 9:15 of September 30, 2004 at about 2900 feet deep, a unique feat.

The two researchers stood in the offing of Ogasawara islands, Japan, when a 26-foot Architeuthis enveloped with its tentacles the bait (a mixture of parts of squids and prawns) that had been readied to lure it.

While the giant squid was trapped, Kubodera and Mori took more than 500 photographs of the cephalopod as it attempted to set free.

Finally, 4 hours and 13 minutes later, the tentacle that had been stuck in the net ripped off, and the giant squid disappeared quickly within the ocean’s depths.

The Giant Squid or Architeuthis has always been the subject of research, on the attempt to observe it in its natural habitat. The 550 photographs taken by the Japanese researchers have been published in the Proceedings Journal of the Royal Society B.
Even though the creature eventually set loose and escaped, one of its limbs, an 18-foot tentacle, remained trapped inside the net, and was immediately transferred on board of the ship,

“It was awesome to have the tentacle of an Architeuthis alive. It was still moving when we took it on board.”

Prof. Kubodera told BBC News.

The suction pads kept on sticking to the ship’s deck and to Kubodera’s fingers every time he touched the tentacle.

The Kraken, however, the real sea monster of the old Norse legends keeps on swimming undisturbed and unobserved within the depths of the oceans, and most likely will remain a “cryptid” until technology will allow men to explore the bottoms of the great oceans.

A special focus should go on the Antarctica, an unexplored continent that lately has been subject to stricter regulations by the governments that have jurisdiction upon it.

From the tales of famous writers such as E.A.Poe and H.P.Lovecraft to the Nazi bases, from Project Highjump of the 50s to the recent, mysterious object found in the Middle East and immediately hauled to the South Pole, everything leads to the impression that the “Frozen Continent” conceals secrets that, if unveiled, could change the whole vision we have of our planet.
What to make of the ever-growing, disturbing rumors from ships crossing the South Pole, what observed, at times, gigantic humanoid beings swimming underneath the water, and known by the Japanese as Ningen. According to the legends, the Ningen could reach dimensions that would ridicule the largest Mesoychoteuthis Hamiltoni.

The research goes on and the Cryptozoology, as fringe science, finds signs and clues into the myths and legends surrounding the Earth’s waters. The biggest challenge remains that of finding the nexus between folk-tales and science.