The two very long tentacles (folded back upon themselves in 

 the picture) account for most of the body length and probably 

 are used to grasp food. The shorter, more muscular arms 

 presumably hold the prey still and bring it to the beak-like 

 mouth. 



We know the "kraken" exists, but we know nothing about 

 how it lives. Our specimens come from the stomach of sperm 

 whales, dying animals stranded on beaches, or the rare cap- 

 ture in a net. Presumably the squids live at moderate depths 

 of the open sea, but they do not have the structures associated 

 with fast-swimming species and may actually be rather slug- 

 gish feeders on animals of the continental slopes. This con- 

 clusion, however, does not agree with the finding of numerous 

 squid sucker marks on sperm whales (which feed on squids) 

 or with the experience of Commander Arne Groenningsaeter 

 of the Royal Norwegian Navy. On three different occasions 

 he saw squids, moving at an estimated 20 miles per hour, 

 overtake and ram into the 15,000-ton tanker Brunswick, 

 reach up the side with their tentacles and then slip back to 

 be caught by the propeller. 



Whether Architeuthis is a meek giant feeding on slow-mov- 

 ing small animals of the sea bottom, or the speedy, fierce 

 "kraken" of legend is an unanswerable question at the pres- 

 ent time. The few tales of battles of sperm whales and squids 

 must be classified as unproved "fish" stories, even though the 

 power of the beaks and tentacles of the squids is so formidable 

 that such tales could be true. 



The rich waters of the Humboldt Current off Peru swarm 

 with fish and also enormous numbers of the squid Ommas- 

 trephes gigas. Reaching 12 feet in length and weighing more 

 than 350 pounds, this animal is a strong competitor of fisher- 

 men. Hooked tuna are often stolen by these squids, which 

 sometimes bite through even the heaviest wire leaders. At 

 night the squids are attracted to lights on the boats and 

 appear in vast schools. 3 



Most squids are much smaller, and feed on crustaceans 

 and small fish. About 350 species are known, with the ma- 

 jority less than two feet in total length. Exquisitely crafted 

 glass models of nine species are on display in the Hall of 

 Lower Invertebrates, on the Museum's ground floor, to- 

 gether with models of three cuttlefish. Suspended from the 

 ceiling is a life-size model of a giant squid that was washed 

 ashore in Newfoundland in 1877. A model of a giant octopus 

 also hangs in the hall. These exhibits of cephalopods con- 

 stitute the Museum's exhibit-of-the-month for June. 



Today, a giant squid is an uncommon find, with only 

 a very jew ever stranded or netted. This small indi- 

 vidual, 30 feet in length, was taken at Ranheim, Nor- 

 way, in October, 1954. 



'See The National Geographic for March, 1941, pp. 373-400. 



THIS MONTH'S COVER: Our Cover, a portion of an old woodcut taken from 

 The Monsters of the Deep : and Curiosities of Ocean Life, printed in 1875, dra- 

 matically portrays a legendary attack by a giant squid on a sea vessel. Although such 

 mythical notions about the giant squid have long been discarded, to this day very little is 

 known of how the giant sea creature lives. 



JUNE Page 3 



