The Colossal Squid has long been a creature from a sailor’s nightmare, appearing in folklore throughout the ages it has often been synonymous with the Kraken. A mighty beast notorious for dragging unwary men to their doom and emitting a foul stench that escapes from its lungs with each breath.

In reality, the Colossal Squid or Mesonychoteuthis hamiltoni is not as ‘foul’ as the reputation that precedes it, but there is some truth to the legends. A feud exists between the Colossal Squid and the Sperm Whale who battle on an epic scale in the deep blue. Sperm whales are found covered in scars on their backs from the beaks of this squid and the beaks are found in large quantities inside the whale’s stomachs

These squids are incredibly elusive and little known to science. They can reach an estimated 14m in length and weigh up to 750kg but only a handful of juveniles have ever been formally recorded. A 5m specimen was caught on a longline off the coast of South Georgia at a depth of 1625m and it was so heavy that it couldn’t be brought aboard. They also have the largest documented eye in the animal kingdom (and that was from an immature female) with a diameter of over 30cm!