In the depths of the world's oceans, several thousand especially large giant squid-architeutis can live, which in size should not be inferior to buses and trucks, which justifies the medieval legends of kraken and giant octopus, says the biologist in an article published in the Journal of Zoology.
“For the past few years, I have been investigating rumors of sea monsters and trying to find any scientific basis in them. My statistical calculations show that giant squid can reach a length of 20 meters, and the length of the central part of their body should be up to three meters. And these are very conservative estimates. Overall, I am sincerely convinced that we underestimate the maximum body size of Architeuthis dux,”said Charles Paxton of St Andrews University, Scotland.
Paxton came to this conclusion during numerous expeditions to the areas of the Atlantic coast of the Old and New Worlds, where the locals claimed to have found "giant octopuses" and other mythical sea monsters.
Some of these statements turned out to be true, and for several years the Scottish biologist has accumulated data on the body length, tentacles, beak and other body parts in more than 160 giant squids. He used this information to create a computer statistical model that helped the biologist calculate the maximum possible body size for Architeuthis dux.
As it turned out, the size of these giant mollusks was underestimated - according to Paxton's calculations, their largest representatives can compete with a bus in length and width. On the other hand, the scientist admits that most of the stories about giant octopuses cannot correspond to reality, since the length of the animal in them exceeds 30 meters, which is impossible in accordance with the results of his calculations.
“It is possible that such a size helps them defend against attacks by sperm whales - even with a body length of three meters, only a very large male will be able to eat squid. It would be extremely interesting to know if the squid can actually grow even larger, which makes them immune to attack by all whales,”concludes Paxton.