Monster Monday Oct 29 - The Kraken

The Kraken  

by Lord Alfred Tennyson

Below the thunders of the upper deep;

Far, far beneath in the abysmal sea,

His ancient, dreamless, uninvaded sleep

The Kraken sleepeth: faintest sunlights flee

About his shadowy sides: above him swell

Huge sponges of millennial growth and height;

And far away into the sickly light,

From many a wondrous grot and secret cell

Unnumbered and enormous polypi

Winnow with giant arms the slumbering green.

There hath he lain for ages and will lie

Battening open huge sea worms in his sleep,

Until the latter fire shall heat the deep;

Then once by man and angels to be seen,

In roaring he shall rise and on the surface die.

The depths of the Atlantic Ocean are filled with all kinds of strange creatures.  The Atlantic Giant squid (Archiethis dux) is one one the scariest looking creatures on the entire animal kingdom.  The world's largest known invertebrate these torpedo-shaped carnivorous mollusks have 8 arms covered in razor sharp suckers, 2 tentacles specially designed to draw its prey in, 3 hearts and 1 beak, they also have the ability to change their skin colour to blend into their surroundings and can release black ink to blind and confuse their prey.  Their enormous eyes are larger than a human's head - the largest of any animal living or extinct, and if that's not enough the can lurk at depths deep enough the water pressure can crush a submarine!

Photo: Life sized replica of the giant squid that landed in Glover's Harbour in 1878. The body was 6.1m (20 feet) long with a tentacle measureing 10.7m (35 feet).

In the past 220 years remnants of over 60 giant squid have washed up on Newfoundland shores!

***  sorry my post didn't appear until late today - I had it scheduled but it didn't show up***