Guerra & González (2009) reported that the total number of recorded giant squid specimens stood at 624. Guerra et al. (2011) gave an updated figure of 677 specimens (see table below). Paxton (2016a) put the total at around 700 as of 2015, of which c.

Giant squids (Architeuthis dux) are one of the largest invertebrates and are actually one of the largest animals on earth. Period. With a maximum length of 13m for males and 10m for females, giant squids are longer than the Southern Ocean's colossal squids (which do get a bit heavier - but we don't fat shame here).

They required marine naturalist John Cloudsley-Thompson to examine Cox's scars at Birkbeck College, and the former further validated the story, assuring the marks, of 1-1/4 inches in size, belonged to a 23-feet long squid. The story has been called the only substantiated report of a giant squid killing humans.

Giant squid almost exclusively live in the depths of the ocean between 200-1,000 metres beneath the surface, and perhaps deeper. Shallower than this, it is thought that the sea temperature is too high for them to survive due to the very low oxygen-carrying capacity of the hemocyanin in their blood.