The Kraken

[Captain]

What's so amazing and intriguing about the Kraken is the fact that it may very well exist. Many characteristics have pointed to the rare and aggressive giant squid and the even rarer and more dangerous colossal octopus. There have been many occasions where giant squids have attacked armored submarines and navy ships only to die as a result of getting trapped in the propellers. This along with wounds on sperm whales from squid attacks is evidence that proves giant squids are the aggressors in the sea. It's possible that a giant squid over hundred feet could've easily wrapped its arms around 17th-century merchant ships and sailing boats and capsized it. Giant squids carnivorous meaning they could've eaten the crewmen as well. These occasions coupled with the mysterious ways of the giant squid show that the Kraken is the real deal. Perhaps one day, we will with much luck see a colossal octopus. One can only hope.

BTW, the PotC2 version of the Kraken was sheer brilliance. Sheer brilliance, the only reason I downloaded the movie, just so I could watch the Kraken scenes over and over and over again :icon32:

[Ryoki]

So you like teh squid?

[Captain]

No not for teh eats, but teh fascination purpoises.

[[xeno]Julios]

Read this:

http://www.deeperblue.net/printarticle.php/696/11

Some excerpts:

After spending more time in the water with Giant Humboldt squid than anyone else in the world, (over 300 dives), I have come to know them in ways I never expected, as individuals. Although, I have probably not seen the same animal twice on more than one dive, but they are in fact personable, each having unique traits.

When I see Dosidicus gigas come into view, I have the same rush of impressions, every time. Speed. Grace. Lethality. Intelligence. Mortality.

Their eyes draw your attention quickly. They look at you. Understand, they look at YOU. They follow your every movement, studying you in an effort to catalogue you either as prey or threat. However, the stare seems even more intense that that. I have long felt they look at you with true curiosity. They seem to wonder what you actually are.

The beak of a Dosidicus gigas is large and very powerful. The edges are assharp as trauma shears and are capable of gouging out an orange-sized chunk of flesh, regardless of tissue make up. I have seen a five-foot Dosidicus gigas bite through the thick bone of a tuna head, skull and all, with minimal effort removing fist-sized portions with each bite.

To hold their prey item firmly, this squid has about 2,000 suction disks; each lined with chitenous ring teeth. Chitin is a material similar to that of fingernails and that of beetle exoskeletons (A polysaccharide). These chitenous ring teeth are needle sharp and very effective. Every suction disk has up to 36 of these teeth. That means a Humboldt squid employs as many as 72,000 teeth upon its hapless victims. Prey has little chance of escaping a Humboldt squid’s deadly embrace.

...

As I peer into the darkness, it suddenly appears different as I pass through the plankton cloud. The darkness has given way to a “black sky full of stars”. The water is black, but clear with perhaps 65 feet of visibility and I am surrounded by bioluminescent jellies. I have entered eternal darkness at 200 fsw and continue “falling”. A few moments later my cable pulls tight arresting my fall. I am dangling alone at 250 feet deep in darkness. I turn on my HID lights and power up my camera. I know they are close now.

What I saw next haunts me still. A large trail of bubbles originating from an unseen animal far below runs directly at me. I watch the bubble trail approach me then pass right through me eventually tracking into the distance behind me. A tinge of fear ran through my spine in a primeval flight response. “What the hell WAS that?” I thought. Hump back whales produce bubble streams effectively corralling herring into tight balls so they can feed on them and this looked just like it. My eyes strain to see the end of my lights, hoping to get a glimpse of the creature. I never did. A Sperm whale? A Pilot whale? Psuedorca? “God, please don’t let it be a Pseudorca!” I worried. That is the only animal here I would truly fear. They are suspect of at least one diver’s death here in the Sea Of Cortez, this Sea of Demons.

Deep in my mind are images and sounds I will never forget although, some I wish I could. Sounds of warfare, gunfire, the smell of blood, burned hair and gunpowder. Cries for help. The terrible silence of death. Things I wish no person to ever hear or see. However, on that list of terrifying images and sounds, are some I wish more people could see. Those of Humboldt squid feeding. Violent images of death to further life.

Even though the squid make no known sounds intentionally (for communication), they do make some. Their chitenous ring teeth grate on my camera housing and body armor when they attack, sounding a bit like a dog’s toenails on a tile floor. The most incredible sound they make is when they attack and feed on flesh.

Thousands of ring teeth cut into the flesh of their prey so deeply, you can hear it. When they drag their victim away with pulses from their massive jet funnel, the sounds of their hapless victim being ripped apart fills the water. It sounds a bit like heavy duty Velcro® being pulled apart underwater. Then the beak can be heard, that huge knife-edged beak. The gouging of bone and tissue sound like the shredding of cabbage combined with that of hacking apart coconuts with a machete. It is unmistakable.

[Captain]

Interesting

[S@M]

I saw a doco on those babies Jules, they have a history of attacking people, and grow large enough to drag an adult underwater fast enough and deep enough to burst their ear drums.

Locals catch an eat them :O they'd make impressive calamari rings

[Chupacabra]

There have been many occasions where giant squids have attacked armored submarines and navy ships only to die as a result of getting trapped in the propellers.

define many

[Nightshade]

Caught a bit of a documentary on giant squid not long ago. There was a marine biologist talking about some squid chunks that had washed up on shore that he had examined. Extrapolating from the measurements he took, he estimated the squid to be ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTY-FIVE FEET LONG.

[MKJ]

thats almost half the size of my cock

[Don Carlos]

lol

[Captain]

There have been many occasions where giant squids have attacked armored submarines and navy ships only to die as a result of getting trapped in the propellers.

define many

All squid move through the ocean using a jet of water forced out of the body by a siphon. They eat fish, other squid, and perhaps some argue, in the case of the largest species, whales. The legend of the Kraken, a many armed sea monster that could pull a whole ship under, may have been based on the giant squid.

The largest giant squid ever measured was discovered at Timble Tickle on November 2, 1878. Three fisherman were working not far off shore when they noticed a mass floating on the ocean they took to be wreckage. They investigated and found a giant squid had run aground. Using their anchor as a grappling hook they snagged the still living body and made it fast to a tree. When the tide went out the creature was left high and dry. When the animal died, the fishermen measured it and then chopped it up for dog meat. The body of the squid was twenty feet from tail to beak. The longer tentacles measured thirty five feet and were tipped with four inch suckers.

We know the giant squid tangles with whales from eye-witness accounts. In October 1966, two lighthouse keepers at Danger Point, South Africa, observed a baby southern right whale under attack from a giant squid. For an hour and a half the monster clung to the whale trying to drown it as the whale's mother watched helplessly. "The little whale could stay down for 10 to 12 minutes, then come up. It would just have enough time to spout - only two or three seconds - and then down again." The squid finally won and the baby whale was never seen again.

Giant Squid have been seen in battle with adult whales too. In 1965, a Soviet whaler watched a battle between a squid and a 40 ton sperm whale. In this case neither were victorious. The strangled whale was found floating in the sea with the squid's tentacles wrapped around the whale's throat. The squid's severed head was found in the whale's stomach.

Sperm whales eat squid and originally it had been thought that such battles were the result of a sperm whale taking on a squid that was just too large to be an easy meal. The incident with the Brunswick might suggest otherwise.

The Brunswick was a 15,000 ton auxiliary tanker owned by the Royal Norwegian Navy. In the 1930's it was attacked at least three times by giant squid. In each case the attack was deliberate as the squid would pull along side of the ship, pace it, then suddenly turn, run into the ship and wrap it's tentacles around the hull. The encounters were fatal for the squid. Since the animal was unable to get a good grip on the ship's steel surface, the animals slid off and fell into the ship's propellers.

[Bdw3]

zomg! I rode that last week at Sea World!!!

[Freakaloin]

[Nightshade]

The squid finally won and the baby whale was never seen again.

How the fuck would they know? Because the baby whale didn't flop it's way up onto the beach to have a smoke and take five after the fight?

[bitWISE]

The squid finally won and the baby whale was never seen again.

How the fuck would they know? Because the baby whale didn't flop it's way up onto the beach to have a smoke and take five after the fight?

[Chupacabra]

The squid finally won and the baby whale was never seen again.

How the fuck would they know? Because the baby whale didn't flop it's way up onto the beach to have a smoke and take five after the fight?

lol

well i guess they said it was never seen again, which is entirely possible

[seremtan]

[Grudge]

no, that's a worm

[bitWISE]

Grudge, I believe that was in reply to

thats almost half the size of my cock

[Nightshade]

The squid finally won and the baby whale was never seen again.

How the fuck would they know? Because the baby whale didn't flop it's way up onto the beach to have a smoke and take five after the fight?

lol

well i guess they said it was never seen again, which is entirely possible

Well, they never saw the squid again, either. Does that mean the whale won? Maybe the squid committed suicide out of remorse over being a baby killer? Goddamn marine biologists and their assumption culture. :icon33:

[bitWISE]

How the fuck would they know? Because the baby whale didn't flop it's way up onto the beach to have a smoke and take five after the fight?

lol

well i guess they said it was never seen again, which is entirely possible

Well, they never saw the squid again, either. Does that mean the whale won? Maybe the squid committed suicide out of remorse over being a baby killer? Goddamn marine biologists and their assumption culture. :icon33:

Maybe he was sleeping with the baby whale and it failed to make their appointments.

[MKJ]

Goddamn marine biologists and their assumption culture. :icon33:

[^misantropia^]

they have a history of attacking people

That statement would hold some merit if it weren't for the fact that Humboldt Squid are most often found at a depth of 200 meters or more.

[Captain]

I guess it's better they stay hidden, otherwise there'll be boatloads of Japs digging in

[Captain]

Unless the Kraken sinks Japan