National Geographic  The Global Kraken  Earlier this year, the
Discovery Channel released the first ever footage of the
legendary giant squid in its natural environment. But did the
crew manage to film the giant squid, or one of the giant squids?
The giant was first described by the Danish naturalist Japetus
Steenstrup in 1857, who named it Architeuthis dux. As Craig
McClain writes, the name “translates to ‘most important squid
leader’.  That is scientifically an awesome name.” Since then,
biologists have slapped the Architeuthis brand on no fewer than
21 potential species. Some of these over-eager taxonomists were
just going on fragments of flesh, like beaks or arms that sperm
whales had coughed up. Others reasoned that squid remains in
far-off corners of the world must belong to different species.
After all, giant squids are everywhere—they’ve turned up in all
oceans except the waters around Antarctica.  How many of these
species are valid? “All of them” seems unlikely as an answer.
Some people think that