Kraken

Pen and wash drawing by malacologist Pierre Dénys de Montfort, 1801, from the descriptions of French sailors reportedly attacked by such a creature off the coast of Angola.

A kraken is a huge mythical sea creature. In Scandinavian and Norwegian mythology,^[1] kraken lived off the coasts of Norway, Greenland, and Iceland.

Literary works discussed this mysterious sea monster as far back as 1180, according to paleontologist Rodrigo Brincalepe Salvador.^[2] The first known sighting was in 1769.

The legend may actually have originated from sightings of real giant squid.^[3]^[4] They are estimated to grow to 13 meters (40 feet) or more, including the tentacles.^[5]

Kraken Media

A "colossal octopus" attacking ship, pen and wash
Old style Scandinavian drag (grapnel anchor) made from the top of a tree, historically known as krake or krabbe in the Scandinavian languages, probably the root for the naming of the mythological monster.
Wooden whisk, known in Swedish as kräklacode: sv is deprecated
Contemporary art, by Norwegian artist Kim Diaz Holm, interpretating kraken according to the 18th century descriptions.
Two monsters, the ferocious toothed "swine whale", and the horned, flashy-eyed "bearded whale" on Olaus' map, given specific names by Gessner (1516–1565). Olaus Magnus, Carta marinacode: la is deprecated (1539)
The horned, flashy-eyed "bearded whale" and toothed "swine whale" (right corner) in Olaus' book (1555)
19th century depiction of a squid clingering to the head of a sperm whale
Image depicting the thought experiment of upscaling a giant squid to the eye-dimensions given by Olaus Magnus, here 73 meters long, shown next to a 32 meter long blue whale and a near 2 meter tall human.
The Aspidochelone, a fabled sea creature, from a 1400–1425 bestiary in the Danish Royal Library. The hafgufa is often compared to the Aspidochelone myth.