Did the kraken really exist? Who is the kraken. Mythical creature or real organism

The kraken is well known modern man according to sea legends preserved from ancient times. Belief in sea monsters can be traced in the epic of most countries of the world that had access to the sea. The giant squid is found in many sources, under many different names. It was he who was once blamed for most maritime disasters.

In the article:

Kraken - the appearance and habits of a sea monster

There are two main versions of the description appearance this monster. The first is a giant squid, the second is an octopus. At the beginning of the 19th century, near Iceland, sailors saw a giant luminous jellyfish, which was also called the kraken. If you believe the entries in the ship's log, its diameter was about 70 m. However, often any large sea monster with tentacles is called a kraken. On rare occasions, the kraken resembles a crab, as well as a fish, which brings to mind legends about a giant fish with a sucker that stopped ships.

It was only in the 19th century that the French zoologist Pierre-Denis de Montfort proposed to distinguish two varieties of kraken. The first is a giant squid that lives in northern waters. The scientist believed that it was precisely such a kraken that Pliny described. The second variety is a giant octopus that lives in the waters of the southern hemisphere of the planet.

In all legends, without exception, large sizes are attributed to the kraken. According to the legends, the sailors who miraculously survived after his attacks described the appearance. So, the northern epic claims that the back of the kraken protrudes from the water and can reach up to a kilometer in size. Its tentacles are so large that they can cover absolutely any ship with them. Even the largest warships could not stand during the attack of the kraken.

The size of the giant squid or octopus is so large that sailors of past centuries sometimes mistook it for an island. There are sailors' stories that describe encounters with a creature of this size. Their plots are similar - the team landed on the island, which suddenly plunged into sea waters. At the same time, a whirlpool often formed, dragging the ship with it. The Kraken has often been blamed for shipwrecks and maritime disasters.

The kraken doesn't break ships for fun. According to the legends, he needs fresh human flesh for food. He ate people who ended up at sea after the destruction of the ship. Surviving after a kraken attack is quite difficult. Legends describe that, like the octopus, it secretes a dark liquid. But the "ink" of the kraken, unlike that secreted by the octopus, is poisonous.

The legendary monster spends most of its time hibernating at the bottom of the sea. As a rule, at this time, part of his torso protrudes above the water, forcing sailors to mistake him for an island. Fishermen believed that a lot of fish always swim around the kraken. If you throw nets near it, you can get a solid catch. The Bishop of Bergen explained this by the fact that the kraken emits a huge amount of nutritious excrement that lure fish.

Kraken in various sources

The most common references to the kraken are found in northern mythology. It is believed that Icelandic sailors were the first people to see this monster with their own eyes. However, it is impossible to call it part of only the northern epic, since giant sea monsters were part of the mythology of many countries - along with other creatures. There are many synonyms for the word "kraken" - kraks, krabben, pulp, polypus.

Medieval Europe was no exception. Sailors and travelers have repeatedly described their encounters with this sea monster that destroys ships with its tentacles. Pirate legends claimed that the kraken kept the treasures of sunken ships. He acts as an analogue of living on land.

The first handwritten medieval source describing this monster was the records of Bishop Eric Pontoppidan of Bergen dating from the middle of the 18th century. The author wrote down oral legends that were widespread among seafarers. He described the appearance of the monster differently than other authors. According to Pontoppidan, the kraken is a mixture of crab and fish of enormous size, comparable to the size of a small island. When moving, he formed whirlpools that pulled ships to the bottom.

In addition, the Bishop of Bergen wrote that the harmfulness of the kraken also lies in introducing confusion into the compilation of maps. Cartographers often mistook a huge clam for an island and put it on maps. It was not possible to find such islands for the second time.

The giant squid was also known in ancient Rome under the name polypus. Pliny the Elder wrote that he attacks not only on the high seas. Polypus also appeared on sea ​​coasts, where the fish was salted. She was one of the favorite treats of thunderstorm sailors around the world.

According to Pliny, the polypus caused a lot of problems by eating all the salted fish. They tried to hunt him with dogs, but he ate them too. In the end, the giant squid was captured and sent to Lucullus, a proconsul who was known for his love of sumptuous feasts and gourmet dishes. The length of the tentacles of the polypus ancient rome was about 9 meters, and the thickness of the body was comparable to a human.

Encounters with the kraken - sea legends

In the 18th century, the St. Petersburg Bulletin wrote about a huge squid washed ashore in Norway. It was discovered by Norwegian sailors. They claimed that this is the real kraken, described in many legends.

In 1774, an English newspaper described the story of Captain Robert Jameson who saw the kraken. Team members confirmed his words. The captain's testimony about this case was given in court under oath. Robert Jameson spoke of a huge creature he encountered while sailing. Its length was about 3 kilometers, and its height was about 10 meters. The alleged kraken appeared from the water column, then disappeared again. In the end, he dived into the depths, causing a great wave of the waters. At the place where the sea monster swam, the sailors got a good catch, filling almost the entire ship with fish.

In 1811, an English corvette met with a kraken, making a voyage from Chile to the American shores. According to the stories of the team, he suddenly appeared above the water almost in front of the bow of the ship - just ten meters from it. Its size was impressive - sailors compared the creature to an island. At full speed, the ship crashed into the kraken, feeling almost no resistance. The sea monster did not survive the collision with the corvette. His remains went to the bottom.

Kraken and science

As early as the 18th century, there were suggestions that a particularly large squid or octopus could be a kraken. But until the end of the 19th century, science considered the existence of giant clams to be an invention of superstitious sailors. Skeptics explained the legends about them by volcanic activity, rapid and sudden change of currents, as well as the appearance and disappearance of small islands - all this is characteristic of the coasts of Iceland.

However, at the end of the 19th century, the discovery of Canadian sailors proved that the kraken is not only a character scary stories, but also existing animal. They spotted a giant squid that had landed firmly on the shallows and helped bring it to science Center. Until the beginning of the 20th century, several more individuals were found washed up on the shore and surfaced on the surface of the ocean. It is believed that some disease killed them.

Science does not deny the existence of squids 10-12 meters long. In addition, it is known that octopuses living at great depths reach a larger size. This is proved by the traces of their suckers, found by fishermen on the skin of whales and sperm whales. It was large and giant squids that served as prototypes for creating the image of a sea monster that killed sailors.

Not a single living individual resembling the legendary kraken has been caught to date. Museums display those that were found dead. Finds in the form of separate body parts of huge squids are also not uncommon. The largest individual caught alive reached 10 m in length. In addition, there is a giant squid that is found in the waters of Antarctica. It was first described in the 20th century from tentacles found in the stomach of a sperm whale. In the 21st century, videos of giant squids that reached 3-4 m appeared. The existence of giant octopuses has not yet been proven.

Perhaps the most famous sea monster is the kraken. According to legend, he lives off the coast of Norway and Iceland. There are different opinions about what his appearance is. Some describe it as a giant squid, others as an octopus. The first handwritten mention of the kraken can be found with the Danish bishop Eric Pontoppidan, who in 1752 recorded various oral legends about him. Initially, the word "kgake" was used to refer to any deformed animal that was very different from its own kind. Later, it passed into many languages ​​​​and began to mean precisely the "legendary sea monster."

In the writings of the bishop, the kraken appears as a crab fish of enormous size and capable of dragging ships to the bottom of the sea. Its dimensions were truly colossal, it was compared with a small island. Moreover, it was dangerous precisely because of its size and the speed with which it sank to the bottom. From this, a strong whirlpool appeared, which destroyed the ships. Most of the time, the kraken hibernated on the seabed, and then a huge number of fish swam around it. Some fishermen allegedly even took risks and threw their nets right over the sleeping kraken. It is believed that the kraken is to blame for many maritime disasters.
According to Pliny the Younger, the remoras stuck around the ships of the fleet of Mark Antony and Cleopatra, which to some extent served as his defeat.
In the XVIII-XIX centuries. some zoologists have suggested that the kraken may be a giant octopus. The naturalist Carl Linnaeus in his book "The System of Nature" created a classification of real-life marine organisms, into which he introduced the kraken, presenting it as a cephalopod. A little later, he deleted it from there.

In 1861, a piece of the body of a huge squid was found. Over the next two decades, many remains of similar creatures were also discovered on the northern coast of Europe. This was due to the fact that the temperature regime changed in the sea, which forced the creatures to rise to the surface. According to the stories of some fishermen, on the carcasses of sperm whales they caught, there were also marks resembling giant tentacles.
Throughout the 20th century repeated attempts were made to catch the legendary kraken. But it was possible to catch only young individuals, whose growth in length was about 5 m, or only parts of the bodies of larger individuals came across. Only in 2004, Japanese oceanologists photographed a fairly large individual. Prior to that, they followed the routes of sperm whales that eat squid for 2 years. Finally, they managed to bait a giant squid, whose length was 10 m. For four hours, the animal tried to break free
·0 bait, and oceanologists took about several names of photographs, which show that the squid has a very aggressive behavior.
Giant squids are called architeutis. So far, not a single live specimen has been caught. In several museums, you can see the burying of the preserved remains of individuals that were found already dead. So, in the London Museum of Qualitative History, a nine-meter squid preserved in formalin is presented. A seven-meter squid is available to the general public in the Melbourne Aquarium, frozen into a piece of ice.
But can even such a giant squid harm ships? Its length can be more than 10 m.
Females are larger than males. The weight of squid reaches several hundred kilograms. This is not enough to damage a large vessel. But giant squids are known for their predatory behavior, so they can still harm swimmers or small boats.
In the movies, giant squids pierce the skin of ships with their tentacles, but in reality this is impossible, since they are devoid of a skeleton, so they can only stretch and tear their prey. outside aquatic environment they are very helpless, but in the water they have sufficient strength and can resist marine predators. Squids prefer to live at the bottom, rarely appear on the surface, but small individuals can jump out of the water to a fairly high height.
Giant squids have the largest eyes among living creatures. Their diameter reaches more than 30 cm. The tentacles are equipped with strong suction cups, the diameter of which is up to 5 cm. They help to hold the prey firmly. The composition of the giant squid's bodies and Lou includes ammonium chloride (butyl alcohol), which preserves its zero plane honor. True, such a squid should not be eaten. All these features allow some scientists to believe that the giant squid can be the legendary kraken.

The legend and myths about the kraken are among the most widespread in the world. Everyone is trying to unravel the mystery of his existence. But who is the kraken?

The word itself came to us from the Scandinavian language - "krabbe".

In ancient times, science was not so developed, and people called all creatures more or less similar in appearance with one word. Therefore, Kraken is the common name for all huge squids and octopuses.

But legends describe a single monster that keeps all sailors at bay. Who is he?

Appearance of the Kraken

Despite the frightening stories, the kraken is a very real creature.

The giant monster has an elliptical body. In length it can reach about 3-4 meters, and in diameter - more than 100.

The color is usually grayish-transparent, shiny. And the body itself is jelly-like, which allows you not to react to third-party stimuli.

Outwardly, the kraken resembles an octopus: it has a head and several tentacles, strong and long.

According to legend, one tentacle with a large number of suckers is capable of destroying a ship.

Like all octopuses, the kraken has 3 hearts: a normal one and a pair of gills that push blood through the gills.

The blood circulating in his body is blue in color. A set internal organs almost standard: liver, kidneys, stomach. There are no bones in the body, but the brain is present.

The head of the octopus is the center of nerve nodes that controls all body functions. The sense organs - taste, smell, touch, hearing, balance, vision - are perfectly developed in them. Huge eyes have a complex structure: retina, cornea, iris, lens, vitreous body.

The kraken has one distinctive feature: it has a specific organ that resembles a jet engine in properties.

It works like this: by typing sea ​​water into the cavity, the gap is tightly closed with the help of cartilaginous buttons, and then a powerful jet of water is pushed out.

As a result of this manipulation, the mollusk is able to move with a strong push into reverse side at a distance of about 10 meters.

The kraken is also capable of releasing a cloudy liquid into the water when angered. It has a protective function and is poisonous.

It is almost impossible for a person to meet this giant, because he does not float to the surface or does it extremely rarely.

habitats

Krakens live in the open sea at a depth of 200 to 1000 meters. All oceans are the habitat of these molluscs, with the exception of the Arctic.

According to one of the legends, it is believed that krakens are guards guarding the untold riches of destroyed ships.

Maybe that's why it's so hard to find them.

According to numerous legends of all the peoples of the world, it is believed that the kraken rests at the bottom of the sea until someone wakes it up.

Who is this? Most likely the god of the seas. All sea creatures obey him.

His order is able to raise the kraken from the bottom and awaken from sleep in the name of the destruction of everything.

There is also a myth that a certain artifact controls the kraken.

In general, he is harmless, because he sleeps for centuries and does not touch anyone without orders. But if he is awakened, then the power of the kraken will destroy more than one coast.

Mythical creature or real organism

Yes, the kraken does exist. In the 19th century, the first proof of this was obtained. Three Newfoundland fishermen were fishing near the shore.

Suddenly, a huge animal appeared on the shallows and ran aground. Before swimming up to it, the fishermen peered for a long time, trying to understand if the creature was moving.

The dead carcass of the kraken was taken to a science center where extensive research was carried out.

Later, several more huge monsters were found. Scientists assumed that an epidemic or disease caused the death of so many molluscs.

The first explorer of the legendary kraken was Addison Verrill, a zoologist from America. It was he who gave the name to the animal and compiled a detailed scientific description. After that, the giants received official recognition.

Carl Linnaeus considered it reasonable to place krakens in the order of mollusks. In general, he was right. These monsters - octopuses - really belong to molluscs. An unusual fact is that the kraken is a close relative of the snail.

The French zoologist Pierre-Denis de Montfort published his own research in 1802. In them, he proposed to divide the kraken into 2 species: Kraken Octopus, living in the seas of the north, described by Poinius the Elder, and a huge octopus, terrifying on ships living in the south.

The rest of the scientists did not accept such a hypothesis, believing that the evidence of sailors is not the most reliable source, since they could mistake volcanic activity or a change in the direction of currents for a kraken.

And only in 1857 they were able to prove the existence of a giant squid - Architeuthis dux, which could serve as the beginning of stories about the Great Kraken.

1852 was the time when a priest from Scandinavia was able to describe the legendary clam in detail. Erik Ludwigsen Pontoppidan and his "Natural History of Norway" gave the world a lot of imagination with a colorful description of the appearance of the monster.

Johan Japetus Steenstrup, a Danish zoologist, published a detailed work on krakens in general in the middle of the 19th century: he collected all the stories, evidence, images and drawings in one book.

And in 1853, he got hold of real evidence of its existence - the throat and beak of a giant squid, which, apparently, were thrown ashore.

1861, November - the first recorded sighting of an existing kraken near the island of Tenerife.

The commander of the ship that encountered the monster only recovered a small fragment of the tail, as the rest of the carcass fell into the water due to gravity.

legends

It turns out that the kraken is an ordinary mollusk, albeit of a gigantic size. Whence, then, frightening stories about a formidable monster? Of course, legends.

Scandinavia. Kraken, in their interpretation, is Saratan, an Arabian dragon or sea serpent. It was about this monster that the sailors made up legends, the origins of which come from the giant squid carcasses found in the stomachs of sperm whales.

Traditions abound various stories about the meetings of the Vikings with the kraken.

One Viking set off on his ship to the Brythonic Islands, gathered a team and took a velva on the road so that she prophesied the path.

They set off on their way, and as soon as they left the fjord in full sail, a white veil covered the eyes of the velva, and she began to utter: “The moment we arrive at the lands of distant relatives, the deep ocean will rise and a bloody island, unprecedented before, will rise, and descend a military army to the island, and this island will pull us to the bottom, for this is the word of Njord!

Naturally, the warriors of the unfavorable prophecy were frightened, but it was impossible to cancel the path. They sailed for several days and nights, and as soon as the sun rose, after these days, the shore became visible on the horizon.

The Vikings were delighted at first, all the islands are known and are on the maps, but then the sea foamed, reared up and something rose from the water. At first, the navigators thought that this was an island, but since they knew about the danger, they did not set foot on it. And the island continued to rise and soon, it was already a sea monster, huge, red, with long rods extending from a huge body.

Coming out of the waters of the sea, the creature wrapped its tentacles around the ship, and began to pull to the bottom. Frightened for their lives, the warriors took out their swords and chopped the creature's tentacles, and then its body into pieces. They managed to escape from death in the abyss of the ocean ...

Bermuda Triangle. It is believed that the Great Kraken rests in this area, which is why this place has become so mysterious. Losses are justified by the existence of a monster that captures everyone with its tentacles.

1810, the schooner Celestina, sailing to Reykjavik, noticed a huge luminous object in the water. Approaching, the sailors realized that this was a living creature resembling a huge jellyfish. It was 70 meters in diameter.

An English corvette en route to America rammed a similar monster. Only the ship was able to pass through the giant, as if through jelly.

After that, according to eyewitnesses, the kraken died and went to the bottom of the sea.

Evidence

• 2004 Falkland Islands. The fishermen's trawl caught a squid almost 9 meters long. It was taken to the museum.
• September 2004. Japanese scientists near Tokyo lowered under water, to a depth of about 1 km, a cable with food for squid and a camera. The giant monster took the bait, hooking its tentacle to the hook. For an hour he tried to free himself, and the cameraI was able to take 400 pictures. The giant left without one tentacle, which was subsequently sent for examination.

The image of the Kraken in art

• A. Tennyson, sonnet "Days of the Kraken"
• J. Verne, "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea"
• J. Wyndham, The Kraken Awakens
• S. Lukyanenko, "Draft" kraken lived in the seas of the world "Earth-three"
• D. Vance, Blue World
• "Pirates of the Caribbean 2: Dead Man's Chest"
• "Clash of the Titans"
• "Lord of the Rings"
• Game Tomb Raider Underworld
• World game of Warcraft
• P. Benchl "Creature"
• S. Pavlov "Aquanauts"

Pontoppidan on the Kraken

The first detailed summary of marine folklore about the kraken was compiled by the Danish naturalist Eric Pontoppidan, Bishop of Bergen (-). He wrote that the kraken is an animal "the size of a floating island." According to Pontoppidan, the kraken is able to grab with its tentacles and drag even the largest warship to the bottom. Even more dangerous for ships is the whirlpool that occurs when the kraken quickly sinks to the seabed.

According to the Danish author, this kraken brings confusion to the minds of sailors and cartographers, since sailors often mistake it for an island and cannot find it a second time. According to Norwegian sailors, a young kraken was once washed ashore in northern Norway.

Further, Pontoppidan conveys the words of the sailors that it takes three months for the kraken to digest the food it swallows. During this time, he excretes such a quantity of nutrient excrement that he is always followed by clouds of fish. If a fisherman has an exceptional catch, then they say about him that he "fished on the Kraken."

Testimony of R. Jameson

In the English edition of St. James Chronicle" in the late 1770s. the testimony of Captain Robert Jameson and the sailors of his ship was cited about a huge body they saw in 1774, up to 1.5 miles in length and up to 30 feet in height, which either appeared from the water, then sank and finally disappeared "during the extreme excitement of the waters." Following this, they found so many fish in this place that they filled almost the entire ship. This testimony was given in court under oath.

Scientists about the kraken

Based on the description given by Pontoppidan, Carl Linnaeus classified the kraken among other cephalopods and assigned it a Latin name Microcosmos. True, the kraken was excluded from the second edition of his Systema Naturae.

Sonnet Tennyson

Under thunderous waves
Bottomless sea, at the bottom of the sea
The Kraken sleeps, undisturbed by dreams,
As ancient as the sea, a dream.
Millennial age and weight
Huge algae of the depths
Intertwined with whitish rays,
Sunny above him.
He scattered a multi-layered shadow on it
Coral trees unearthly sprawl.
Kraken sleeps, fattening day by day,
On fat sea worms,
As long as the last fire of heaven
Will not scorch the Depths, will not stir up the waters, -
Then he will rise with a roar from the abyss
To the sight of the angels ... and die.

In 1802, the French zoologist Pierre-Denis de Montfort published a study of molluscs, in which he proposed to distinguish between two types of a mysterious animal - kraken octopus, which lives in the northern seas and was allegedly described for the first time by Pliny the Elder, and a giant octopus that terrifies ships plowing the open spaces southern hemisphere.

The scientific community reacted critically to Montfort's reasoning. Skeptics believed that the evidence of sailors about the kraken could be explained by underwater volcanic activity off the coast of Iceland, which manifests itself in bubbles emanating from the water, a sudden and rather dangerous change in currents, the appearance and disappearance of new islands. It wasn't until 1857 that the existence of the giant squid was proven ( Architeuthis dux), which, apparently, served as the prototype of the kraken.

According to cryptozoologist Mikhail Goldenkov, evidence of the size of a kraken “from an island” and “thousands of tentacles” indicates that this is not one creature that, with such dimensions, would be torn to pieces by waves even in a weak storm, but a flock of giant cephalopods, perhaps , giant or colossal squid. Smaller squid species are often gregarious, which may indicate that larger species are also gregarious.

Kraken in literature and cinema

The image of the Kraken has been repeatedly used in fiction and cinema. Alfred Tennyson dedicated one of his best sonnets to a fictional monster, to which the title of the story by A. N. Strugatsky refers, “Days of the Kraken”. The Kraken is also mentioned in Jules Verne's novel 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. John Wyndham has a fantasy novel The Kraken Awakens, in which, despite the title, the kraken itself does not appear. In the novel by Sergei Lukyanenko "Draft", the kraken lived in the seas of the world "Earth-three". In the A Song of Ice and Fire series of novels by George R. R. Martin, the golden kraken is the symbol of the Greyjoy dynasty, an ancient line of skilled sea warriors. In the movie Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, Davy Jones is depicted as being able to summon the Kraken from the abyss and set him on the ships he wishes to destroy. For some reason, the Kraken is also mentioned in the films "Clash of the Titans (1981)" and "Clash of the Titans (2010)" and "Wrath of the Titans" () according to the ancient Greek myth of Perseus (in the films, Perseus must kill the Kraken as a product of Hades), although the Kraken is not is a character mentioned in ancient Greek myths. It is impossible not to mention the fantastic novel by Sergei Pavlov "The Aquanauts" (1968), in which giant squid occupy one of the central places. In the One Piece manga and anime, a Kraken appears at the bottom of the ocean. main character harness for movement under water. In another Naruto: Shippuuden anime, in one of the fillers (episode 225), the plot is based on the Black Pearl and the kraken. The creature that defeats Kratos in the second episode of the legendary God of War game series can also be attributed to the Kraken. There is also a kraken at the beginning of Tomb Raider Underworld. The kraken is present in the ArcheAge online MMORPG game coming out in 2012, it is located in the water between three continents and poses a great danger to single ships passing by.

see also

Notes

Categories:

• mythical animals
• Characters in The Book of Fictional Creatures by Borges
• Poems by Alfred Tennyson
• cephalopods
• cryptids

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Synonyms:

• Ruslana
• parks

See what "Kraken" is in other dictionaries:

kraken- noun, number of synonyms: 2 krak (1) monster (35) ASIS synonym dictionary. V.N. Trishin. 2013 ... Synonym dictionary

KRAKEN- Scandinavian version of Saratan and Arabian dragon or sea ​​snake. In 1752-1754, the Danish Bishop of Bergen, Eric Pontopidian, wrote in the Natural History of Norway that "floating islands are always Krakens." Among the youthful works ... ... Symbols, signs, emblems. Encyclopedia

KRAKEN- KRAK, KRAKEN (German, from other Swiss krake tree stump with branches). A fabulous sea monster, as if living in the depths of the northern seas, near Norway. Dictionary of foreign words included in the Russian language. Chudinov A.N., 1910 ... Dictionary of foreign words of the Russian language

kraken- roll ... Concise Dictionary anagram

The Kraken Awakens- The Kraken Wakes ... Wikipedia

Half Life 2: Beta- This article is proposed for deletion. An explanation of the reasons and a corresponding discussion can be found on the Wikipedia page: To be deleted / November 7, 2012. Until the discussion process is completed, the article can be ... Wikipedia

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Who is a kraken? This is a mythical sea monster of enormous size, resembling a giant squid in its shape. According to the stories, the monster lives off the coast of Greenland and Norway. Its first description was made by Eric Pontoppidan, a bishop, historian, writer and antiquary. His active creative activity fell on the first half of the 18th century.

But it should be noted that this venerable and respected gentleman never left the dry land. The bishop compiled his description from the stories of sailors, and, as you know, they can at least tell something, sitting at a table in a cozy port tavern.

So, according to the description of Pontoppidan, the sea monster in size corresponds to a floating island. He has huge tentacles. He can wrap them around any ship and drag it to the bottom. When the monster plunges into the depths, a whirlpool arises, which is a great danger to ships. The sea monster digests food for a very long time. At this time, he releases nutritious excrement, which attracts a huge number of fish. Fishermen swim right above the kraken and return home with the richest catch.

The sea monster was described in 1781 by the Swedish writer Jacob Wallinberg. According to him, when the monster floats to the surface, it releases water from the wide giant nostrils. From this, huge waves begin to diverge in all directions, fading only at a distance of many miles. Ships and boats can capsize from these waves.

In 1774, a hearing was held in England, at which Captain Robert Jameson and the sailors of his ship testified under oath. They claimed to have seen a large sea creature, whose body length reached several hundred meters and towered 9 meters above the water. It sailed in a parallel course to the ship and then emerged from the water, then plunged into the depths of the sea. Diving once again, the monster disappeared, and the sailors did not see him again.

At the end of the 18th century, the kraken became extremely popular in scientific circles. They represented him as a creature similar to a giant octopus. The tentacles were equipped with suckers, which had spikes. However, already at that time there were many skeptics. They claimed that no sea monster exists in nature. Underwater volcanic activity is taken for it. It is characterized by bubbling water, whirlpools, currents and the appearance of new islands.

The existence of the giant squid was proven in 1857. After that, all experts began to associate the kraken with him. At the same time embarrassed too big sizes this inhabitant sea ​​depths. However, some cryptozoologists have suggested that giant squids can unite in flocks by analogy with small species, which for the most part are schooling.

A large flock of giant squids on the surface of the ocean can be mistaken for a huge sea monster. Entertainment is added by long tentacles and divergent different sides waves. Thus, we can conclude that no kraken has ever existed in nature. It was created by the rich imagination of sailors, and scientists spent too much time to separate fact from fiction.