Before we knew much about them, giant squids were called kraken by sailors. Stories said that the kraken would pull sailors from their ships. Drawings of the kraken looked very similar to the giant squid. According to Norwegian sailor's tales or "recollections" the kraken could sink ships.
Jules Verne, the author of "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea", was inspired to work on his book from a newspaper article. In the late 1800's, a newspaper had a "real" story about a crew of a ship that had met with a kraken. The book was first published in 1869.
Did this "monster" have predators? During 1700-1800's, some whaling ship captains hunted sperm whales, which we now know eat giant squid. On some of the whales they discovered peculiar looking scars. Could the whale have had a fight with a huge sea animal?
In 1873 a fisherman accidentally caught a giant squid. A naturalist, Rev. Moses Harvey, bought the giant squid for only ten dollars. The ten-dollar squid was the first ever discovered. The Reverand draped the giant squid over the shower curtain rod so the squid could be studied.
Using the specimen, Professor Verrit from Yale University drew the first accurate picture of the giant squid. Scientists eventually categorized giant squids under the phyllum of mollusks and the genus of cephalopods. Cephalopods have been in existence for more than 500 million years. In comparison, humans have existed for less than half a million years.
Like cuttlefish, giant squids have a pen, a backbone-related support inside them. However, a pen is not a bone but is made of a material called chitin. A giant squid's pen is significantly larger than a normal-sized squid.
