Search: kraken
Why: I always thought it was an octopus (like the one in Pirates of the Caribbean 2) or possibly a squid, but what kind of octopus or squid has a head like this?
Answer: A many-armed Scandinavian sea beast! Facts:
- It is also known as the Krabben, Sciu-Crak, and Hafgufe.
- 12th century Norwegian stories mention a creature the size of an island.
- It has arms that can reach the top of the highest mast.
- Tons of fishies gravitate around Kraken. If a boat successfully fishes around the monster without waking it up, it will catch more than it can carry.
- In the 1752 Natural History of Norway, the Bishop of Bergen described the Kraken as a "floating island" 1.5 miles across. He wrote, "It seems these are the creatures's arms, and, it is said, if they were to lay hold of the largest man-of-war, they would pull it down to the bottom."
- The Kraken attacked at least 3 ships in the 30s.
- It was probably a giant squid.
- It probably though the ship was a whale.
The More You Know: Did you know there is a squid even bigger (mass-wise) than the giant squid (aka the architeuthis), the star of my favorite movie The Beast (1996) (TV)? Well there is, and it is called the colossal squid. This goddammer* is 46 ft long, weighs over 1,000 lbs, and wants to eat you for a snack!
*I stole that word from this story about the imminent Sharktopus, which I am very excited about. Very.
This post is full of too many awesome things. It's almost too much to handle
ReplyDeleteKraken is also the big boss guarding the Water Crystal in the original Final Fantasy for the NES. It is portrayed as a giant octopus thing in that, and is weak against lightening.
ReplyDeleteNeeeeeeeeeerd
ReplyDelete:( Don't hate! I mean, I did just get the game to review for cell phones, so I've parlayed this useless video game knowledge into a semblance of a gig.
ReplyDelete