How Big Is the Giant Squid?

Written by

John P. Rafferty

Fact-checked by

Britannica Editors

History

In the public consciousness, titanic conflicts between giant squids (genus Architeuthis) and sperm whales (Physeter macrocephalus) are legendary. Not only have these behemoths battled one another in art—famously in an illustration in British novelist Frank T. Bullen’s The Cruise of the Cachalot (1898) and in a gargantuan diorama at the American Museum of Natural History—but there is ample scientific evidence that they face off against one another in the wild, with some sperm whales showing large sucker-shaped scars on their hides and the remains of giant-squid beaks in their stomachs. Still, much of what was known about these deep-diving cephalopods came from sketchy reports by mariners and fishers and from examinations of the carcasses floating at sea or washed up on beaches. Until the start of the 21st century no one had documented a living giant squid, and the largest known dead specimen is roughly 13 meters (43 feet) long—including its tentacles—with a wet weight that might have reached up to a ton (907 kg [2,000 pounds]).

The first evidence of a living adult giant squid was captured in 2004, when Japanese researchers photographed one in its natural habitat at about 900 meters (2,950 feet) beneath the surface of the North Pacific Ocean. The first video footage of an adult giant squid in the wild followed in 2012; it was taken near Chichi Island in the North Pacific at a similar depth by a team of scientists in a submersible. Other photographs and videos followed, but nothing as large as the 13-meter specimen was found. Could there be a larger living giant squid out there?

To make these deep waters even murkier, the giant squid rivals the colossal squid (Mesonychoteuthis hamiltoni) in overall size, the latter being heavier and more robust. Colossal squids are also very elusive, and the first confirmed video of a living individual—a juvenile—was filmed in 2025. The rest of what the world knows about colossal squids comes from a handful of dead individuals, although New Zealand fishers managed to ensnare a living colossal squid on a hook at depth in the Ross Sea in 2007. It was brought to the surface before it died a short time later. Although that animal’s official measurements, 4.2 meters (13.8 feet) long with a wet weight of about 470 kg (1,040 pounds), were taken after it had died and been placed on ice (which contributed to the shortening of its tentacles), the crew of the boat asserted that it had been 10 meters (33 feet) long when it was first captured. Some researchers argue that the colossal squid’s maximum length could reach as long as 14 meters (46 feet); however, this claim remains a matter of debate.

John P. Rafferty

How Big Is the Giant Squid?

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