English: Atlantic Giant Squid (Architeuthis dux) at the Sant Hall of Oceans at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C. This specimen is a female caught in July 2005 off northern Spain. She is about 36 feet (10.9 m) long, which includes tentacles that are 22 feet (6.7 m) long. The squid weighs 330 pounds (149.6 kg).

The giant squid dwells in the deep ocean. Scientists know so little about them that we think there may be as many as eight species -- or as few as one. The maximum size is probably 42.5 feet (13 m), with males being smaller than for females (only about 33 feet, or 10 m). Giant squid have enormous eyes, and complex brains, and float by circulating ammonium chloride throughout their bodies (which is lighter than seawater). This makes their flesh taste like sour piss. Bleah!

Giant squid feed on fish and other squid. They reach out with their tentacles, and latch on to prey with the large paddle-like ends. They then draw the prey to their mouth, there it is chopped by the beak, torn to shreds by their tongue (which has teeth-like nodules on it), and digest it. Juveniles are probably preyed on by sharks, but the only predator known to eat adult giant squid are sperm whales. Giant squid occur nearly all over the world, but tend to be found on continental shelves and in temperate oceans (being rare at the poles and the tropics). They probably live at a depth of 1,000 to 3,300 feet (300 to 1,000 m).