Through myths, legends or fantasy movies, people know them as the Kraken sea monster, but in reality no one knows whether they really exist or not, and if If they exist, where is this creature hiding at the bottom of the deep mist?
And to find the answer to this question, more than 50 scientists, after many tests and hundreds of hours of diving, finally found certain clues at a depth of 900 meters below the ocean floor.
The Kraken appears in records from the reign of King Sverre of Norway in 1180, with its shape described as resembling a giant squid. However, in a time when science was not yet developed, everything in the ocean became dangerous. Any strange creature that appears becomes a topic of discussion for sailors, and it seems that the legend of the Kraken also comes from here.
During a meeting in the summer of 2012, the mystery of this creature was gradually revealed when Japanese zoologist Tsunemi Kubodera presented evidence to prove that this creature completely exists. While the submarine was diving hundreds of meters below the seabed, suddenly a “sea monster” appeared.
The most famous of the deep sea monsters, the legendary Kraken has been the subject of many folk tales, myths, and science fiction stories throughout the centuries. Often described as a sea creature resembling a giant squid, the monster is said to attack ships in the middle of the ocean, eating sailors to satisfy its hunger.
All of these moments were captured on camera and the world could finally see what these Earth-bound invertebrates look like under natural conditions. But actually, their size is not as giant as what myths describe, they do not reach the size of a blue whale as people think. But anyway, they are a giant creature and were given a completely new name, Architeuthis.
Since the late 19th century, there has been evidence that the Kraken is more than just a myth. The corpses of a giant creature stranded on the beach and decomposed super-sized tentacles scattered in fishing nets all prove its existence.
However, no one had ever seen a Kraken alive until Tsunemi Kubodera came up with a bold idea: using sperm whales – their enemies in legends – as a pilot.
A large creature, the sperm whale can reach a length of 20 meters and can eat hundreds of different species of squid every day. In the stomach of a sperm whale stranded on the New Zealand coast, 16,000 different squids were found. Therefore, instead of pursuing the Kraken’s trail, the best way is to follow their hunter.
In 2004, Tsunemi Kubodera organized an expedition to the North Pacific Ocean off the Ogasawara Islands, Japan, where sperm whales’ main foraging grounds are located. Researchers sent an automatic camera below 900 meters into the sea.
This camera is responsible for capturing everything in the surrounding area every 30 seconds. Finally, a long-awaited sight finally appeared: giant tentacles appeared in the halo created by the submarine’s lights. This is also the first time scientists have directly recorded images of giant squids on the ocean floor.
This is a giant squid that was attracted by a lure several meters below the camera and got stuck in the middle. It struggled to break the hook for nearly 4 hours, and had to leave a 5 meter long tentacle to escape the trap. People often think that cephalopods are weak and vulnerable, but they are wrong, this creature is clearly very aggressive and has extremely great resistance.
But in reality, if Tsunemi Kubodera and his team caught the giant squid and brought it back for research, it would not survive.
Because once its body escapes the water pressure in the deep sea, it will not be able to keep its original shape and is no longer worth studying. And obviously those photos don’t bring much research value.
However, Tsunemi Kubodera did not give up. In the summer of 2012, the offshore Ogasawara Islands welcomed an inspection team of about 50 scientists from 11 countries led by Tsunemi Kubodera. In addition to bringing top-notch research equipment, they are also equipped with two submarines, one from Japan specially designed by NHK TV and one from Discovery Channel and carrying HD cameras.
Soon, they harvested the results, which were a series of photos of the Kraken. But when studying its vision, researchers discovered that its huge eyes (30 cm in diameter) grew on its head. This means it must approach its prey from below when hunting, and its prey must be at a higher water level than where it hides. After nearly a hundred dives and 400 hours of underwater operations, the team still found no more, so Tsunemi Kubodera decided to make another last ditch effort.. and this time, HD cameras Only at the bottom of the sea can it truly exert its effectiveness.
At a depth of 630 meters under the sea, the camera discovered a giant squid swimming. Its slim body is about 3 meters long. It’s unclear what happened, but this Kraken’s two tentacles disappeared, and it only had 8 tentacles left. Leaning on the two triangular fins on the back of its body, it was struggling to keep its giant body steady. To find food, this creature must continuously inflate its body by transporting water into the gills inside, and at the same time continuously push water out to create thrust for the body, but due to the loss of 2 contacts, this creature must continuously inflate its body. As a result, it could not hunt normally, so when it reached a depth of 900 meters, it abandoned its prey and disappeared into the darkness of the deep sea.
“At that time, only I, a photographer and a control technician were in the submarine, and darkness enveloped us. Five meters away from the submarine, a giant tentacle began to attack. our bait, but I couldn’t see anything! So we turned on the search lights, and the giant squid appeared in front of us like this! “said Tsunemi Kubodera .
Despite having studied cephalopods for 40 years, Tsunemi Kubodera was still extremely shocked. He noticed that the two long tentacles on the creature’s head were regenerating! In addition, the color pigment reflected on this creature’s skin is also extremely special
However, even though it was discovered by Tsunemi Kubodera, Kraken still has many mysteries that we have not been able to fully discover until now.
For example, does one or more species of giant squid exist? The actual number of species is unknown. But so far, humanity has discovered the three most common types: Ar-chiteuthis dux, Architeuthis martensi and Architeuthis sanctuarytipauli.
In addition, there are still many unanswered questions surrounding this creature: what is its main food? How does it give birth to children? Is it a solitary creature or a social animal? What is the maximum size it can reach? How long does it usually live? None of these questions have been answered or are almost unanswered.
It has been speculated that the Kraken is rare because it has not been found for a long time. But this is not necessarily accurate. Because unlike other large marine animals, such as whales, dolphins and giant octopuses in the North Pacific, their numbers are known and monitored, but the global population of giant squid is unknown. know exactly so it is still impossible to confirm anything.
Furthermore, approaching this creature is also very difficult because they are easily scared and run away, while whales and octopuses are relatively easy to approach. Therefore, the scientific community today still has many questions about this creature.
