Something enormous lurks in the freezing dark below Antarctica, and it has picked a fight with the ocean's biggest hunter.
The colossal squid owns one body part bigger than any other creature's in history. Which part?
Its eyes It has the largest eyes of any known animal, and they even glow in the dark, thanks to light-making bacteria living right beside the lens.
Scientists needed to thaw a frozen half-ton squid fast. Which kitchen appliance did they consider supersizing?
A giant microwave Thawing at room temperature would have let the outside rot while the middle stayed frozen, but the museum team finally chose a bath of salt water instead.
You'd expect a half-ton sea monster to eat constantly. How much food does a colossal squid probably need each day?
About one ounce Its metabolism is so slow that scientists think it hangs still in the dark and simply ambushes whatever swims too close.
Many sperm whales carry a creepy souvenir from battling colossal squid. What's left on their backs?
Hook scars Unlike its glass squid cousins, the colossal squid has swiveling hooks on its arms, though the whales usually win and eat it anyway.
Scientists first found this squid as chunks inside a whale's stomach. What finally happened a full century later?
Filmed alive in the wild In 2025 an underwater robot near the South Sandwich Islands caught a small juvenile on camera, the first confirmed footage of one in its natural home.
