The giant squid.  The secretive behemoth of the deep.  One of the most spectacular unknowns in the world of today.  A secret Mother Nature has not shared with us.  Until now.

Regardless of how it may be described, the recent filming of the elusive giant squid can only be historically noted as one of the most phenomenal opportunities for modern biology.  While we have seen evidence of this creature of the deep, including carcasses washed ashore, no one has until now ever seen one alive in its natural habitat — more importantly, no one has ever seen the creature's normal behavior, and no living evidence has ever been caught on film until now.  This news has spread rapidly across the globe as excitement grows in response to these pictures and their source.  This truly is an historic occasion.  Our understanding of Earth has just taken a significant leap forward by furnishing a profound discovery.  That discovery involves the last great unexplored environment on our planet: the deep sea.

I can only describe this as one of the most exciting scientific events in recent history.  It's the living proof of a true natural mystery and legend, a creature hidden from us for so long while remaining integral to our shared mythology.  Architeuthis dux, the giant squid, has been as elusive as it was enticing.  A great predator of the seas, a true and real answer to the question of the kraken and its equivalents throughout all of history and the many cultures who believed in such, the giant squid is the Sangraal oceanic.  But architeuthis may not be the kraken after all.

Deep-Sea News reminds us that another species of mollusk, Mesonychoteuthis hamiltoni, is not arbitrarily called the colossal squid.  It dwarfs the giant squid which we have only just seen alive for the first time.  To wit:

"All we knew prior to this specimen coming through was that this animal lived in the abyssal environment down in Antarctica," New Zealand squid expert and senior research fellow at Auckland University of Technology, Dr Steve O'Shea, told BBC News Online. Mesonychoteuthis hamiltoni was first identified in 1925 after two arms were recovered from a sperm whale's stomach. There have only ever been six specimens of this squid recovered: five have come from the stomachs of sperm whales and the sixth was caught in a trawl net at a depth of 2,000 to 2,200 metres. "Now we can say that it attains a size larger than the giant squid. Giant squid is no longer the largest squid that's out there. We've got something that's even larger, and not just larger but an order of magnitude meaner."

These related yet dissimilar news items renew my excitement in the knowledge that we still have so much to learn.

[title shamelessly adapted from Apostropher; via Apostropher at previous, via Pharyngula at previous and this, via Deep-Sea News at previous and this]