This list of giant squid specimens and sightings from the 21st century is a comprehensive timeline of recent human encounters with members of the genus Architeuthis, popularly known as giant squid. It includes animals that were caught by fishermen, found washed ashore, recovered (in whole or in part) from sperm whales and other predatory species, as well as those reliably sighted at sea. The list also covers specimens incorrectly assigned to the genus Architeuthis in original descriptions or later publications.
Background
The beginning of the 21st century marked a turning point in humanity's understanding of the life habits of the giant squid, as it ushered in the first visually documented and incontrovertible observations of live animals, both adult and paralarval.Dery, 2013; Mullen, 2013; Schrope, 2013; Guerra, 2022 The quest to photograph or film a live giant squid—mooted since at least the 1960s—had begun in earnest in the 1980s and intensified significantly in the following decade, with several multi-million-dollar expeditions launched in the late 1990s. While these were all unsuccessful, they were followed by a steady stream of live giant squid "firsts" in the nascent years of the 21st century, and spurred further efforts that ultimately culminated in the first footage of live giant squid in their natural deep-ocean habitat—recorded off Japan's Ogasawara Islands in 2012.
The turn of the century also roughly coincided with a shift in the way new giant squid specimens were reported and information on them was disseminated. The rapidly growing popularity of the World Wide Web resulted in a proliferation of both online news sources and platforms for sharing and discussing said news, the latter facilitating a never-before-seen level of engagement between professional teuthologists and amateur enthusiasts. Consequently, much of the information on recent specimens is drawn from online rather than print sources, though scholarly papers continue to be published on individual specimens.e.g. Leite et al., 2016; Funaki, 2017; Shimada et al., 2017; Guerra et al., 2018; Romanov et al., 2018 There exists a sizeable internet community of giant squid enthusiasts, and developments in the field—particularly videos of live animals—generate considerable excitement online,Monks, 2013; Widder, 2021:270, 273 a phenomenon that has been described as "giant squid mania".Cronin, 2016
Giant squid are generally considered inedible owing to the high concentration of ammonium chloride in their tissues, which renders them exceptionally bitter.Iida et al., 1992; Roper & Jereb, 2010:123 However, processing methods to make them more palatable have been investigated, with drying and boiling showing some success.H.-Y. Park et al., 2011 Beginning in the 2010s, a number of specimens have been prepared by hard curing, with some of these served for human consumption (e.g. #598, 603, and 617). Other forms of preparation have also been tried (e.g. #558, 602, 678, and 681), with occasional dubious claims of specimens being eaten raw (e.g. #83).
Quest for a live animal
Though the total number of recorded giant squid specimens now runs into the hundreds, the species remains notoriously elusive and little known, and has retained its status as a "quasi-mythical" animal.James Barrat quoted in Ribas, 2010 By the turn of the 21st century, the giant squid remained one of the few truly large extant megafauna to have never been photographed alive, either in the wild or in captivity. Marine writer and artist Richard Ellis described it as "the most elusive image in natural history".Ellis, 1998:211 Acquiring footage of the animal in its natural habitat became "the holy grail of natural history cinematography".DeFede, 2019; Widder, 2021:246; see similar statements in McCarey & Rubin, 1998; E. Young, 2003; Dunleavy, 2012
Early expeditions 1986–1990: Beebe Project Though there had been proposals since at least the 1960s, the first dedicated effort to capture a glimpse of the animal in its natural habitat was probably the Beebe Project, initiated in 1986 and named after pioneering deep-sea explorer William Beebe. Like Beebe's original dives, it was initially conducted off Bermuda, which was not known for giant squidEllis, 1998:244 (but see #191). In addition to finding the giant squid, the expedition's other main objective was the study of six-gill sharks of the genus Hexanchus.Wilford, 1987; Loates, The three-person submersible Pisces VI and the four-person Johnson Sea Link were used, the former reaching a maximum depth of .Loates, Financed primarily by NOAA and organised and led by National Geographic photographer Emory Kristof, the expedition involved scientists from numerous universities and scientific institutions, including shark specialist Eugenie Clark and underwater explorer Joseph B. MacInnis; wildlife artist Glen Loates, known for his naturalistic depictions of the giant squid, was also involved.Wilford, 1987; [Anon.], 2013g; Loates,
The expedition relocated to Newfoundland in 1988, at which point it was joined by giant squid expert Frederick Aldrich of the Memorial University of Newfoundland.[Anon.], 1988b; Walsh, 1988; Thurston, 1989; [Anon.], 1989a; McCarey & Rubin, 1998; see also [Anon.], 1989b for talks given by Aldrich about the Beebe Project in 1988–1989 A series of seven dives to depth, lasting up to 10 hours each, were undertaken east-northeast of Bonavista Bay on 7–11 November 1988, this time using the Canadian Navy's SLD-1 submersible and the diving support vessel HMCS Cormorant.[Anon.], 1988a, c; Whitaker, 1988; [Anon.], 1989a, b In 1989, Aldrich filmed a program about the giant squid for Fuji TV in Japan.[Anon.], 1989b Efforts continued until at least 1990; at one point, a "gigantic squid jig, painted bright red and outfitted with numerous hooks" was trialled, as was "hundreds of pounds" of raw tuna,Whitaker, 1988 but all attempts proved unsuccessful.
1993: misidentified live specimen A photograph purporting to show a live Architeuthis dux alongside a diver was published in the 1993 book European Seashells,Poppe & Goto, 1993:pl. 28 fig. 1 but this turned out to be a sick or dying Onykia robustaEllis, 1998:211; Norman, 2000:174 (misidentification #). Richard Ellis wrote: "Fortunately for those who have devoted their lives to searching for Architeuthis, this was only an aberration, a case of mistaken identity."
1996–2001: Smithsonian expeditions and increasing global interest After years of planning, a series of further expeditions aimed at capturing footage of a live giant squid in its natural habitat were mounted in the late 1990s,Pope, 1994; Fisher, 1995; Judd, 1996; Conniff, 1996; [Anon.], 1996 but all were unsuccessful.Knight, 2000 The three Smithsonian-backed efforts comprised a smaller-scale undertaking in the Azores in July 1996 and two major expeditions—known as "In Search of Giant Squid"—to Kaikōura Canyon off New Zealand in January–March 1997 and February–March 1999 (the former covered by National GeographicT. Allen, 1997; McCarey & Rubin, 1998 and also sponsored by the New England Aquarium,Ellis, 1998:3 and the latter including a BBC Television unit[Anon.], 2002c). These expeditions—the latter two each costing around US$10 million (equivalent to $ million in )—employed a combination of sperm whale–mounted crittercams, baited "ropecams" or "drop-cams", an Odyssey IIB unmanned underwater vehicle, and the single-person submersible Deep Rover.Fisher, 1997; Ellis, 1997a, b, 2005:145; L. Allen, 1997; McCarey & Rubin, 1998; Morris, 2000; Grzelewski, 2002 All three were led by giant squid expert Clyde Roper, with the first two also involving marine biologist Malcolm ClarkeMcCarey & Rubin, 1998; Herring, 2014:115; Rodhouse et al., 2015:868; Gomes-Pereira et al., 2017:823 and the last two Steve O'Shea of NIWA; additionally, National Geographic photographer Emory Kristof took part in the first Kaikoura expedition and oceanographer Gene Carl Feldman in the second.Roper et al., 1997, 1999; Roper, 1998a, b, 2000, 2006, 2013; Morris, 2000; see also [NMNH], ; [SI], The Azores and first New Zealand expeditions were the subject of the 1998 National Geographic documentary Sea Monsters: Search for the Giant Squid;McCarey & Rubin, 1998 the second New Zealand expedition was the subject of the Discovery Channel's Quest for the Giant Squid, released in 2000.Sarsby, 2000; Zad, 2000
Marine writer and artist Richard Ellis joined the first of the New Zealand expeditions and, in 1998, released a popular nonfiction book, The Search for the Giant Squid, further raising interest in the pursuit of a live animal.Miller, 1996; Ellis, 1998 In 2000, Roper said: "I would guess at this point a half a dozen individuals or groups would like to find one." Oceanographic explorer Jean-Michel Cousteau, son of Jacques-Yves Cousteau, led another unsuccessful expedition to New Zealand that ended in early 2001.[Anon.], 2001d; see also Knight, 2000; Grann, 2004
21st century breakthroughs 2001–2002: first videos of live paralarvae and first photographs of live adults
In February 2001, a team led by Steve O'Shea and also including Malcolm Clarke and Chung Cheng Lu succeeded in capturing the first footage of a live giant squid when they caught and filmed several paralarval individuals measuring in total length (#444).Baird, 2002; P. Young, 2002; E. Young, 2003; Ellis, 2005:146–147 The expedition involved the NIWA research vessels RV Kaharoa and RV Tangaroa, and the New Zealand fishing trawler Tasman Viking. Seven live individuals were retrieved in 12 days from some 100 tows. However, attempts by aquaculturist Mike Tait to simulate their natural conditions in a tank proved unsuccessful and all the paralarvae soon died. The expedition was the subject of the Discovery Channel documentary Chasing Giants: On the Trail of the Giant Squid, first aired in 2002.
This milestone was followed by the first images of a live adult giant squid (at the surface) on 15 January 2002, near Goshiki beach in Amino-cho, Kyoto Prefecture, Japan (#464). The animal, which measured about in mantle length and including the head and arms, was found near the water's surface. It was captured and tied to a quay, where it died overnight.[Anon.], 2002b; O'Shea, 2003f; Martin, 2006; Hellwarth, 2012; Gallant, 2016:47 These images were joined by a number of little-publicised photographs of live adults at the surface off Okinawa (#472, 473, and 488).
Renewed interest in filming a live giant squid followed the 2001 recording of an enormous specimen of bigfin squid (likely of the family Magnapinnidae) at great depth off Hawaii, which received global media attention,Morelli, 2002a and the observation of a possible giant squid egg mass in early 2002 (later determined to be that of Nototodarus gouldi—misidentification #).[Anon.], 2002d This was followed by further efforts by O'Shea to capture live paralarval specimens.Morelli, 2002b; Cappello, 2004; Grann, 2004
2002–2003: Proyecto Kraken and other unsuccessful attempts