Giant squid

대왕오징어

A deep-sea giant growing to 13 m, with the largest eyes of any animal. Each eye is about plate-sized, around 25 cm across, and since it lives so deep, it was first filmed alive only in the 2000s.

See it on the 3D globe →

At a glance

Class: Molluscs
Lives in: Deep sea off New Zealand
Diet: Meat eater (carnivore)
Weight: about 210 kg
Conservation status: Least Concern (IUCN LC)
Habitat: deep sea

Quick answers

Where does the Giant squid live?

It lives in deep sea of the Pacific, Atlantic, Indian and Southern oceans. On the globe you can find it near Deep sea off New Zealand.

How big is the Giant squid?

It grows to about 210 kg.

What does the Giant squid eat?

Its diet: meat eater (carnivore).

Is the Giant squid endangered?

It is listed as Least Concern (IUCN LC).

The giant squid is a huge squid of the deep ocean. It is found in all the world's oceans, usually near continental and island slopes, from Newfoundland and Norway to Japan, New Zealand and southern Africa. It probably lives at depths of about 300 to 1,000 metres. Nobody saw one alive in its home until 2004, when Japanese researchers took the first photographs of one.

Like all squid, it has a mantle, eight arms and two longer feeding tentacles. Modern estimates put the maximum body length at around 5 metres for females, measured from the fins to the arm tips, and the hidden feeding tentacles add up to about 10 metres. Older reports of 13 metres or more included the stretched tentacles. Claims of 20 metres or more have never been confirmed. It also has the largest eyes in the animal kingdom.

How big is it really?

The size of the giant squid has been exaggerated for centuries. Scientifically documented specimens weigh hundreds of kilograms, not thousands. Because the arms and tentacles make up much of the length, the animal is much lighter than its chief predator, the sperm whale. It is longer than the colossal squid but lighter, since it is less bulky. Our card says each eye is around 25 centimetres across, about the size of a plate.

Life in the deep

Each arm and tentacle has hundreds of round suckers, 2 to 5 centimetres wide, each ringed with sharp serrated edges of chitin. These help it grab prey. Scars from the suckers are often found on sperm whales, which dive deep to hunt giant squid. Scientists studied the animal for many years only from dead specimens. Genetic research suggests there is just one species worldwide.

Fun facts

It was first photographed alive in its deep-sea home in 2004, by Japanese researchers.
It was first photographed alive in the deep sea in 2004.
Its eyes are the largest of any animal, about plate-sized.
Genetic studies suggest only one species of giant squid exists in the whole world.