Creatures of unknown species, usually having a serpentine or reptilian resemblance, that are said to inhabit the world’s seas, often threatening ships and humans. Sea serpents have populated myths for as long as people have known the seas. Additionally, there are documented reports of sailors seeing or being threatened by such creatures in nearly all of the world’s oceans. Sea serpents have been blamed for prodigious storms and for destroying ships. Although most are surely mythical, some have been found to have some scientific basis.
The Kraken, a gigantic squid long reported in the northern seas, has been shown to be no myth. Although none of these monsters has probably ever grasped a ship in its tentacles and pulled it under the sea, as stories and legends tell, specimens of giant squid of more than 20 meters (60 feet) in length have been documented near New Zealand. Eyewitnesses report even larger ones. Tentacles of immense length have been found in whale stomachs, and the crews of Norwegian fishing boats of the 19th century often reported capturing squid of 8 meters (25 feet) or more long and cutting them up for bait.