In 1873, two fishermen off the coast of Newfoundland glimpsed what they thought was a submerged shipwreck.
But when they probed the mass, it moved — and huge serpentine appendages soon besieged their boat.
One fisherman took an axe to the animal, and it disappeared in a cloud of ink.
What remained were two long limbs — definitive evidence in a collection of clues that would only continue to grow.
Over time, it became clear that giant squids were more than mythical monsters.
People found sizable specimens washed ashore, caught in nets, and at the sea's surface, and observed sperm whales with sucker-shaped scars and large beaks in their stomachs.
But it wasn't until recent decades that scientists actually found living giant squids in their natural habitat.
So, what do we really know about these creatures?
Well, interestingly, one thing we've gathered is that they might not even be the biggest squids out there.
There are hundreds of squid species inhabiting almost all parts of the ocean, ranging from the size of a thumbnail to more than seven times the length of a human.
