Living Cryptids: Kraken

This sea monster is what kept ship’s crews up at night as they sailed across the oceans.  The possibility that this monster was lurking below the surface, stalking ships, and waiting to breach the surface to take the ship and her crew with her was in the back of minds of all seamen.  The kraken was feared to have tentacles that were as tall as a ship’s mast that could wrap themselves around the ship and crush it.  It was the end for all who crossed paths with it.

The kraken seems to be based on a giant cephalopod.  It is usually further classified as being a very large version of the colossal squid or an extremely large octopus looking animal.  The former description is the most plausible as there is a colossal squid.  The colossal squid can reach lengths up to 50 feet so there is the possibility that there could be a creature bigger than that.

The kraken is most likely between the lengths of 50-60 feet because ship at the time it was recorded were over 100 feet long ranging from there to 150 feet.  The description of what the kraken is able to do puts its size around there.

The problem with explaining this creature is why it attacks ships.  A creature of this size would have no trouble getting food elsewhere in the ocean.  One explanation for this is the interactions between the sperm whale and the giant squid.  The way the squid would wrap itself around the whale when they fought could explain why the kraken wraps itself around the ship.  It could mistake the ships as whales.  The crew that fall into the water are then prey for the kraken and it then saw that ships as a source for food.

All in all, the kraken is probably not an actual cryptid, but just a extremely large squid.