Post by Matt Costa on Mar 1, 2007 18:13:44 GMT -5
Kraken
Due to the untimely illness that bestowed unto my computer, I failed to post a creature for the month of February. So that means you lucky Cryptoids get two this month.
The first creature o’ the month is the Kraken. Said to be the Largest Sea-Monster in the World. Kraken (now known as the giant Squid) is derived from the Krake Scandinavian word designating an unhealthy animal, or something twisted in German the word Krake is commonly used for octopus. It was once thought of as a work of folklore and old seaman’s tales and until around the 1870s when physical evidence was finally recovered and acknowledged by Zoologists( though remained have be reportedly recovered since the 1600s). Early reports described the Kraken in Biblical proportions “…larger than the grandest ships…” and more often than not depicted as more crab-like than octopus-like. More recent eyewitness descriptions characterize the Kraken to the span of at least 90 feet, despite carcasses recovered that measure only a maximum of 65 feet. The most recent discovery of this slimy squid is on February 23, 2007, New Zealand fisherman hauled in a squid weighing over 992lbs. And over 30 feet long. So, it is undisputed that the Kraken legend is a real but the mystery that shrouded this creature for centuries is good enough to be this month’s creature of the month.
Cruptozoology A to Z by Loren Coleman and Jerome Clark
www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10425355
