Kraken Project: In Search of the Giant Squid (2003)

Kraken Project: In Search of the Giant Squid

The giant squid (genus: Architeuthis) is a deep-ocean dwelling squid in the family Architeuthidae, represented by as many as eight species. Giant squid can grow to a tremendous size: recent estimates put the maximum size at 13 metres (43 ft) for females and 10 metres (33 ft) for males from caudal fin to the tip of the two long tentacles (second only to the colossal squid at an estimated 14 metres (46 ft), one of the largest living organisms). The mantle is about 2 metres (6.6 ft) long (more for females, less for males), and the length of the squid excluding its tentacles is about 5 metres (16 ft). There have been claims reported of specimens of up to 20 metres (66 ft), but no animals of such size have been scientifically documented. On September 30, 2004, researchers from the National Science Museum of Japan and the Ogasawara Whale Watching Association took the first images of a live giant squid in its natural habitat. Several of the 556 photographs were released a year later. The same team successfully filmed a live adult giant squid for the first time on December 4, 2006.

For centuries, the most prestigious scientific institutions have tried to get the first images of this colossal cephalopod, the largest invertebrate on earth, without success. The challenge of revealing the mystery of the legendary Kraken has revived the enterprising spirit of those scientific expeditions of the start of the 19th century. But the enormous difficulties in filming beneath the crushing pressures of the ocean depths have meant the secret of the fabled squid has remained hidden. Because, up to now, no one has ever seen a living giant squid in its natural environment. Now, a group from the Spanish production company Transglobe Films is undertaking a campaign in search of the legendary giant squid in the depths of the Carrandi trench. Hidden beneath the crushing, dark weight of tonnes of water lies an unknown world, up to now forbidden territory for man, a world about which scientists know less than our solar system, the world of the final frontier: the ocean depths. More men have been into space than into the depths of the ocean, a nearby but unfathomable world. In the perpetual darkness of the ocean depths thousands of unknown beings flourish, never seen by man. This is the dwelling place of the monsters that for centuries inspired legends and mythology, the home of the strangest, most fascinating creatures in the sea, the kingdom of a legendary animal which the Norwegian sailors called the Kraken and which, to date, no one has managed to see alive: the Architeuthis, the mythical giant squid. To achieve their objective, they will have to overcome innumerable obstacles. But down there, in the depths of Carrandi, the elusive Architeuthis silently prowl. And the Kraken Project is determined to film them for the first time in history.

Sources: Wikipedia and FactualTV