The giant squid is a species of deep-ocean dwelling squid in the family Architeuthidae. It can grow to a tremendous size, offering an example of abyssal gigantism: recent estimates put the maximum size at around 12–13 m (39–43 ft) for females and 10 m (33 ft) for males, from the posterior fins to the tip of the two long tentacles. The mantle of the giant squid is about 2 m long, and the length of the squid excluding its tentacles rarely exceeds 5 m (16 ft). Claims of specimens measuring 20 m (66 ft) or more have not been scientifically documented.
Tentacular club of Architeuthis
A portion of sperm whale skin with giant squid sucker scars
The beak of a giant squid, surrounded by the buccal mass
A giant squid specimen measuring over 4 m (13 ft) without its two long feeding tentacles
A squid is a mollusc with an elongated soft body, large eyes, eight arms, and two tentacles in the superorder Decapodiformes, though many other molluscs within the broader Neocoleoidea are also called squid despite not strictly fitting these criteria. Like all other cephalopods, squid have a distinct head, bilateral symmetry, and a mantle. They are mainly soft-bodied, like octopuses, but have a small internal skeleton in the form of a rod-like gladius or pen, made of chitin.
Squid
Fossil Rhomboteuthis from the Lower Callovian (c. 164 Mya, middle Jurassic) of La Voulte-sur-Rhône, France
Fossil Plesioteuthis from the Tithonian (c. 150 Mya, upper Jurassic), Solnhofen, Germany
Basic squid features (ventral aspect)