Aspidochelone
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According to the tradition of the Physiologus and medieval bestiaries, the aspidochelone is a fabled sea creature, variously described as a large whale or vast sea turtle, and a giant sea monster with
An Aspidochelone from a French manuscript, c. 1270. J. Paul Getty Museum
Alexander Romance, Armenian manuscript, 1538–1544
Brendan and his monks' ship is carried by a giant fish in a German manuscript.
Kraken
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The kraken is a legendary sea monster of enormous size, per its etymology something akin to a cephalopod, said to appear in the Norwegian Sea off the coast of Norway. It is believed that the legend of
A "colossal octopus" attacking ship, pen and wash by Pierre Denys de Montfort, engraved by Étienne Claude Voysard, 1801
![Kraken, an unconfirmed cephalopod. Engraving by W. H. Lizars, in Hamilton, Robert (1839). Naturalist's Library. Adapted "from Denys Montford" [sic.]](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d1/Naturalistslibra25-p326a-kraken.jpg/500px-Naturalistslibra25-p326a-kraken.jpg)
Kraken, an unconfirmed cephalopod. Engraving by W. H. Lizars, in Hamilton, Robert (1839). Naturalist's Library. Adapted "from Denys Montford" [sic.]
Old style Scandinavian drag (grapnel anchor) made from the top of a tree, historically known as krake or krabbe in the Scandinavian languages, probably the root for the naming of the mythological monster.
Wooden whisk, known in Swedish as kräkla, and krekle in dialectal Norwegian