ABSTRACT
The story of the discovery of the giant squid presents an interesting parallel with that of the sea serpents and sheds much light on people’s treatment of the unknown. Squids, cuttlefish and octopuses belong to the class Cephalopoda, and differ slightly in structure and habitat. The octopus has eight arms and a head closely joined to its sac-like body. It is built for crawling and normally inhabits crevices on the sea bed. The squid and cuttlefish have an extra pair of arms of great length which swell at the extremities into sucker-covered pads. Their bodies are long and streamlined, connected to the head by a short neck. Squids inhabit the open sea, chasing their prey at high speed, and, unlike octopuses, are helpless out of water, sometimes being stranded on beaches. Marine mammals are divided into three groups: the Cetacea, or whales; the Pinnipeda, or seals, and the Sirenia, which comprises the Manatees, the Dugongs, and Steller’s Sea-cow.
