Kraken

{{Short description|Mythical sea monster}} {{Other uses|1=Kraken (disambiguation)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=February 2015}}

[[File:Le Poulpe Colossal.jpg|thumb|A "colossal octopus" attacking ship, pen and wash<ref name="montgomery2016"/> by Pierre Denys de Montfort, engraved by Étienne Claude Voysard, 1801<ref name=denys-montfort-colossal>{{harvp|Denys-Montfort|1801}}, {{URL|1=https://books.google.com/books?id=MWg5AAAAcAAJ&pg=PA256-IA1 |2=p. 256, Pl. XXVI}}.</ref>]]

[[File:Naturalistslibra25-p326a-kraken.jpg|thumb|Kraken, an unconfirmed cephalopod.{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|Caption: "The kraken, supposed a sepia or cuttlefish from Denys Montford" [sic.]". ''Sepia'' was formerly the genus that octopuses, squid, and cuttlefish (cephalopods) were all assigned to. Thus "eight-armed cuttle-fish" became the standardized name for "octopus".<ref name="pennant"/><ref name="packard"/>}} Engraving by W. H. Lizars, in Hamilton, Robert (1839). ''Naturalist's Library''. Adapted "from Denys Montford" [sic.]<ref name=hamilton-plate-xxx>{{harvp|Hamilton|1839}}. Plate XXX, [https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/18065353#page/389/mode/1up p. 326a].</ref>]]

The '''kraken''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|k|r|æ|.|k|ən}}; from {{langx|no|kraken}}, {{IPAc-en|ˈ|k|r|ɑː|.|k|ən}})<ref name="oed1-kraken"/><ref name="munford1870"/> is a legendary sea monster of enormous size, per its etymology something akin to a cephalopod, said to appear in the Norwegian Sea off the coast of Norway. It is believed that the legend of the Kraken may have originated from sightings of giant squid, which may grow to {{convert|10.5|m}} in length.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Paxton |first=C. G. M. |date=October 2016 |title=Unleashing the Kraken: on the maximum length in giant squid ( Architeuthis sp.) |url=https://eds.p.ebscohost.com/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=1&sid=970227ce-3899-4a21-a45e-a8acae695c72@redis |journal=Journal of Zoology |volume=300 |issue=2 |pages=82–88 |doi=10.1111/jzo.12347|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

The kraken, as a subject of sailors' superstitions and mythos, was first described in a Norwegian glossary by Christen Jensøn in 1646. Later this creature appears in a travelogue by Francesco Negri in 1700, followed in 1734 by an account from Dano-Norwegian missionary and explorer Hans Egede, who described the kraken in detail and equated it with the ''hafgufa'' of medieval lore. However, the first description of the creature is usually credited to the Danish bishop Pontoppidan (1753). He described the kraken as an octopus (polypus) of tremendous size,{{efn|He vacillated between polypus and "star fish" however.}} and wrote that it had a reputation for pulling down ships. The French malacologist Denys-Montfort, of the 19th century, is also known for his pioneering inquiries into the existence of gigantic octopuses.

The great man-hunting octopus entered French fiction when Victor Hugo introduced the ''{{linktext|pieuvre}}'' octopus of Guernsey lore in his 1866 novel ''Toilers of the Sea'', which he identified with the kraken of legend. This led to Jules Verne's depiction of the kraken in his novel ''Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas'', although Verne did not distinguish between octopuses and squids.

Carl Linnaeus may have indirectly written about the kraken. Linnaeus wrote about the ''Microcosmus'' genus (an animal with various other organisms or growths attached to it, comprising a colony). Subsequent authors have referred to Linnaeus's writing, and the writings of Thomas Bartholin's ''cetus'' called ''hafgufa'', and Christian Franz Paullini's ''monstrum marinum'' as "krakens".{{efn|Denys-Montfort's footnote identified his kraken with Paullini's ''monstrum marinum'' also, leading Samuel Latham Mitchill to comment that "Linnaeus considered the Kraken as a real existence", publishing it under Microcosmus.}} That said, the claim that Linnaeus used the word "kraken" in the margin of a later edition of ''Systema Naturae'' has not been confirmed.

== Etymology == The word "kraken" in English (in the sense of the sea monster) derives from {{langx|no|kraken}} or {{lang|no|krakjen}} of the same sense, which are the definite forms of ''krake'' (''kraken'' = "the ''krake''").<ref name="oed1-kraken"/><ref name="munford1870"/>

According to a Norwegian dictionary, the root meaning of ''krake'' is "malformed or overgrown, crooked tree".<ref name="UIB"/> It originates from Old Norse {{lang|non|kraki}}, which is etymologically related to Old Norse {{lang|non|krókr}}, {{literally|hook}}, cognate with "crook". This is backed up by the Swedish dictionary SAOB, published by the Swedish Academy, which gives essentially the exact same description for the word in Swedish and confirming the lead ''krak'' as a diminutive form of ''krok'', Norwegian and Swedish for 'hook/crook'; ''krake'' thus roughly translate to "crookie".<ref name="krake sbst.4"/> With time, "krake" has come to mean any severed tree stem or trunk with crooked outgrowths, in turn giving name to objects and tools based on such, notably for the subject matter, primitive anchors and ''drags'' (grapnel anchors) made from severed spruce tops or branchy bush trunks outfitted with a stone sinker,<ref name="UIB"/><ref name="krake sbst.4"/> known as ''krake'', but also ''krabbe'' in Norwegian or ''krabba'' in Swedish ({{literally|crab}}).{{efn|{{langx|no|Krabbe}}, {{langx|sv|krabba}} ({{literally|crab}}) as a word for ''drag'' (grapnel anchor) is assumed to be figuratively derived from the animal of the same name, as both shares the nature of crawling on the sea bed. The word stems from {{langx|non|krabbi}}, etymologically root cognate with {{langx|gml|krabbe}}, {{langx|ang|crabba}}, 'to crawl'.<ref name="krabba sbst.1"/><ref name="krabba sbst.2"/><ref name="credibility"/>}} Old Norse {{lang|non|kraki}} mostly corresponds to these uses in modern Icelandic, meaning, among other things, "twig" and "drag", but also "pile barrage-pole" and "boat hook".<ref name="cleasby-vigfusson-kraki"/> Swedish SAOB gives the translations of Icelandic {{lang|is|kraki}} as "thin rod with hook on it", "wooden drag with stone sinker" and "dry spruce trunk with the crooked, stripped branches still attached".<ref name="krake sbst.4"/>

[[File:Krake (trädragg).jpg|thumb|upright|Old style Scandinavian drag (grapnel anchor) made from the top of a tree, historically known as ''krake'' or ''krabbe'' in the Scandinavian languages, probably the root for the naming of the mythological monster.]] Kraken is assumed to have been named figuratively after the meaning "crooked tree" or its derivate meaning "drag", as trunks with crooked branches or outgrowths, and especially drags, wooden or not, readily conjure up the image of a cephalopod or similar.<ref name="krake sbst.2"/><ref name="krake sbst.3"/><ref name="krake sbst.4"/><ref name="UIB"/> This idea seems to first have been notably remarked by Icelandic philologist Finnur Jónsson in 1920.{{sfnp|Finnur Jónsson|1920|pp=113-114}} A synonym for kraken has also been ''krabbe'' (see below), which further indicates a name-theme referencing drags.

=== Synonyms === Besides ''kraken'', the monster went under a variety of names early on, the most common after ''kraken'' being '''''horven''''' ("the horv").<ref name="runeberg">{{cite web |title=Nordisk familjebok / 1800-talsutgåvan. 8. Kaffrer - Kristdala / |url=https://runeberg.org/nfah/0742.html |website=runeberg.org |year=1884 |access-date=2023-07-12}}</ref> Icelandic philologist Finnur Jónsson explained this name in 1920 as an alternative form of ''{{linktext|harv}}'' ({{literally|harrow}}) and conjectured that this name was suggested by the inkfish's action of seeming to plough the sea.{{sfnp|Finnur Jónsson|1920|pp=113-114}}

Some of the synonyms of ''krake'' given by Erik Pontoppidan were, in Danish:{{efn|Pontoppidan of course wrote in Danish, the standard literary language for Norwegians at the time, though words like ''krake'' were presumably taken down from the mouths of the native Norwegian populace.}}

* {{lang|da|horv}} (''horven'') – harrow{{sfnp|Finnur Jónsson|1920|pp=113-114}}<ref name="pontopiddan-preface"/><ref name="runeberg"/> * {{lang|da|søe-horv}} (''søe-horven'') – sea-harrow{{sfnp|Finnur Jónsson|1920|pp=113-114}}{{sfnp|Pontoppidan|1753a|p=340}} * {{lang|da|søe-krake}} (''søe-kraken'') – sea-kraken<ref name="pontopiddan-preface"/> * {{lang|da|kraxe}} (''kraxen'') – alternate spelling of "krakse"<ref name="pontopiddan-preface"/>{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|With definite article suffixed forms such as '''Kraxen''' or '''Krabben'''<ref name="machan"/> appearing in the English translation.{{sfnp|Pontoppidan|1755|p=210}}}} * {{lang|da|krabbe}} (''krabben'') – named after the ''drag'' (grapnel anchor) "crab" (see above){{sfnp|Pontoppidan|1753a|p=340}}<ref name="UIB"/><ref name="krake sbst.4"/> * {{lang|da|anker-trold}} – anchor-troll{{sfnp|Pontoppidan|1753a|p=340}}{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|Pontopoppidan's "Soe-draulen, Soe-trolden, Sea-mischief" has been frequently requoted,{{sfnp|Metropolitana|1845|p=256}}{{sfnp|W[ilson]|1818|p=647}} but these terms can be deferred to Egede's explanation (discussed further, below) that employs ''søe-trold'' as a general classification, under which krake and the ''søe-drau'' fall.{{sfnp|Egede|1741|p=49}} The word ''drau'' as a variant of ''draug'' was recognized by Pontoppidan as meaning '{{lang|da|spøgelse}} ghost, spectre',<ref name="knudsen"/> and the latter form ''{{linktext|draug}}'' is defined more specifically as a being associated with sea or water in modern Norwegian dictionaries.<ref name="UIB-draug"/> The "'''Sea-mischief'''" appears in the English translation{{sfnp|Pontoppidan|1755|p=214}} but is absent in the original.<ref>{{harvp|Pontoppidan|1753a|pp=346–347}}: {{langx|da|.. krake, hvilken nongle Søe-fokl ogsaa kalde Søe-Draulen, det er Søe-Trolden}}</ref>}}

=== Related words === Since the 19th century, the word ''krake'' has, beyond the monster, given name to the cephalopod order ''Octopoda'' in Swedish (''krakar''){{efn|Although "eight-armed cephalopods", {{langx|sv|åttaarmade bläckfiskar}}, is a more common synonym.}} and German (''Kraken''), resulting in many species of octopuses partly named such, such as the common octopus (''Octopus vulgaris''), which is named ''jättekrake'' ("giant kraken") in Swedish and ''Gewöhnlicher Krake'' ("common kraken") in German.{{citation needed|date=December 2024}} The family ''Octopodidae'' is also known as ''Echte Kraken'' ("true krakens") in German. In Icelandic, octopoda is instead named ''kolkrabbar'' ("coal crabs") after the crab nickname, the common octopus simply named ''kolkrabbi''.

thumb|upright|Wooden whisk, known in Swedish as {{lang|sv|kräkla}}, and {{lang|no|krekle}} in dialectal Norwegian The Swedish diminutive form ''kräkel'', a word for a branchy/spiny piece of wood,<ref name="kräkel sbst.1"/> have given name to a variety of sea dwelling plants in Swedish, most notably furcellaria lumbricalis, a species of red algae.<ref>{{cite web |title=Kräkel |url=https://www.havet.nu/livet/art/krakel |website=havet.nu |access-date=2023-06-20}}</ref>{{efn|Kräkel has also been used to describe Potamogeton Vaill (pondweed)<ref name="kräkel sbst.3"/> and Zostera Lin (marine eelgrass),<ref name="kräkel sbst.4"/> etc.}} There is also the morphological derivation ''kräkla'' (dialectal {{langx|no|krekle}}), meaning crooked piece of wood, which has given name to primitive forms of whisks and beaters (cooking), made from the tops of trees by keeping a row of twigs as the beating element, resembling the appearance of a cephalopod, but also crosiers and shepherd's crooks.<ref name="kräkla sbst.2"/>

Shetlandic ''krekin'' for "whale", a taboo word, is listed as etymologically related.<ref name="krake sbst.2"/><ref name="jakobsen"/>

== General description == The kraken was described as a many-headed and clawed creature by Hans Egede (1741)[1729], who stated it was equivalent to the Icelanders' ''hafgufa'',<ref name="egede-havgufa"/> but the latter is commonly treated as a fabulous whale (the name meaning "sea reeker", compare a whale blowing water).<ref name="halldor1938-jaskonius"/> Erik Pontoppidan (1753), who popularized the kraken to the world, noted that it was multiple-armed according to lore, and conjectured it to be a giant sea-crab, starfish or a ''polypus'' (octopus).<ref>{{harvp|Pontoppidan|1753a}} (Danish); {{harvp|Pontoppidan|1755}} (English); ''vid. infra''.</ref> Still, Pontoppidan is considered to have been instrumental in sparking interest for the kraken in the English-speaking world,<ref name="bushnell-19c-england"/> as well as becoming regarded as the authority on sea-serpents and krakens.{{sfnp|Oudemans|1892|p=414}}

Denys-Montfort (1801) published on two giants, the "colossal octopus" with the enduring image of it attacking a ship, and the "kraken octopod", deemed to be the largest organism in zoology. Denys-Montfort matched his "colossal" with Pliny's tale of the giant ''polypus'' that attacked ships-wrecked people, while making correspondence between his kraken and Pliny's monster called the ''arbor marina''.{{efn|And other fabulous-seeming creatures, such as ''monstrum marinum'',  ''bellua marina omnium vastissima'', etc.}} Finnur Jónsson (1920) also favored identifying the kraken as an inkfish (squid/octopus) on etymological grounds.{{sfnp|Finnur Jónsson|1920|pp=113-114}}

=== ''Nordisk familjebok'' (1884) === thumb|Contemporary art, by Norwegian artist Kim Diaz Holm, interpreting kraken according to the 18th century descriptions. The Swedish encyclopedia ''Nordisk familjebok'' gave the following summation of the Kraken myth in 1884:

{{blockquote|''Kraken'' ("the crookie") or ''horven'' ("the harrow"), a sea monster belonging to the realm of fable, of which E. Pontoppidan, with the support of the statements of Norwegian fishermen, recorded in “Norges natuurlijke historie” (1752–53).}}

{{blockquote|It is said that when fishermen row out a few miles (Scandinavian miles) from the coast on a hot summer's day in a calm, and according to normal calculations should find a depth of 80–100 fathoms ({{convert|140-180|m}} deep), it sometimes happens that the plummet bottoms at 20–30 fathoms ({{convert|35-50|m}} deep). But in this water stand the most abundant shoals of cod and lings. Then you can assume that the kraken lurks down there; as it is he who forms the artificial elevation of the bottom and by his secretions attracts fish there. But if those fishing notice that the kraken is rising, it is necessary to row away for all the boat can take. After a few minutes, the beast can then be seen lifting the upper part of its body above the surface of the water, which for a quarter of a mile (ca 1.5 mi.) in circumference appears as a collection of skerries, covered with swaying, seaweed-like growths. Finally, a few shining tentacles rise up in the air, increasingly thicker at the bottom, which can even appear as high as ship's masts. After a while, the kraken gives in to sinking again, and you then have to be careful not to run into the suction vortex that is formed.<ref name="runeberg"/>}}

== Historical descriptions == === Olaus Magnus (1539–1555) === [[File:CartaMarina (B).png|thumb|{{anchor|olaus_map_swinewhale}}Two monsters, the ferocious toothed "swine whale", and the horned, flashy-eyed "bearded whale" on Olaus' map, given specific names by Gessner (1516–1565).<ref name="olaus-CartaMarina-monstra"/><ref name="gessner"/> The "bearded" is possibly a kraken.{{Refn|name="nigg-cit-muenster"}}<ref name="machan-cartmarina-fig3">Cf. {{harvp|Machan|2020}}: "{{URL|1=https://books.google.com/books?id=lnTnDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT201|2=Olaus Magnus's magnificent}} sixteenth-century Carta marina is replete with imagery of krakens.. (See Figure 3.)"</ref> Olaus Magnus, {{lang|la|Carta marina}} (1539)]]

One of the earliest possible descriptions of the kraken, based on its iconography, is found on Swedish writer Olaus Magnus' famous map of Scandinavia from 1539, the {{lang|la|Carta marina}}, featuring various illustrated sea-monsters. Magnus did not use the term kraken, but did feature a sea monster, in the Norwegian Sea between Norway and Iceland, in the shape of a fish with tentacles growing out of its head, next to another sea monster in the shape of a fish with tusks.{{Refn|name="nigg-cit-muenster"|Nigg, under "Kraken".<ref name="nigg"/> Nigg references the beasts labeled "D" in Sebastian Münster's "Monstra Marina"<ref name="muenster1572"/> and confusingly states that Münster's key "D" "repeats Olaus' key", but by visual comparison it is unmistakable that the two beasts in question are the two beasts labeled "B" in Olaus' map (shown in the figure above/right).}}<ref name="machan-cartmarina-fig3"/>

The {{lang|la|Carta marina}} describes the two monsters as follows:

{{Verse translation| {{lang|la|B monstra duo marina maxima vnum dentibus truculentum, alterum cornibus et visu flammeo horrendum / Cuius oculi circumferentia XVI vel XX pedum mensuram continet<ref name="olaus-CartaMarina-monstra"/>}} | {{lang|en|B two enormous sea monsters, one with ferocious teeth, the other with horns and a horrendous flaming gaze / The circumference of whose eye measures 16 or 20 feet}} }}

What measurement Magnus referenced is unknown. It could be period Swedish feet: {{convert|296.9|mm|abbr=on}}, Norwegian (Danish) feet: {{convert|313.8|mm|abbr=on}}, or something else. At the time of the map's creation, Magnus had been living in exile in Danzig, Poland, since 1527, moving to Venice in 1539 before the map's publication. Applying a generic foot-value of {{convert|300|mm|abbr=on}}, the eye-diameter given would be something akin to {{convert|1.5–1.9|m|ft|abbr=on}}.

Swiss naturalist Conrad Gesner (1516–1565) named the tusked creature "swine whale" ({{langx|de|Schweinwal}}), and the horned creature "bearded whale" ({{langx|de|Bart-wal}}).<ref name="laist"/><ref name="gessner"/>

thumb|left|The horned, flashy-eyed "bearded whale" and toothed "swine whale" (right corner) in Olaus' book (1555) Later on, in 1555, Magnus released a work expanding on the map, titled {{lang|la|Historia de Gentibus Septentrionalibus}} (English title: ''A Description of the Northern Peoples''), a massive work describing Scandinavian customs, folklore and nature. In book 21, chapter 5, titled {{lang|la|De horrilibus Monstris littorum Norvegiæ}} (The Horrible Monsters off the Coasts of Norway), he describes the {{lang|la|Carta marina}} creature in detail, saying its part of a group of nameless monster fishes outside the Norwegian coast, which by extension are grouped with whales. The following description appears to intermix traits from both whales and squids; for one, he says it is black in color, with a square head the length of 10–12 cubits (roughly {{convert|6–7|m|ft|abbr=on}}, if assumed to be Swedish ells: {{convert|0.594|m|ft|abbr=on}}),<ref name="HodNF 987-988">{{cite book |author1=Olaus Magnus (translation by Michaelisgillet) |title=Historia om de nordiska folken |date=1909–1925 |pages=987–988 |language=sv |chapter=book 21, chapter 5}}</ref> with a body length of 14–15 cubits (roughly {{convert|8–9|m|ft|abbr=on}}),<ref name="HdGS 734">{{cite book |author1=Olaus Magnus |title=Historia de gentibus septentrionalibus |date=1555 |location=Rome |pages=734 |language=la |chapter=Liber XXI, CAP. V. De horrilibus Monstris littorum Norvegiæ.}}</ref> giving a total length of {{convert|14–16|m|ft|abbr=on}}, which is consistent with sperm whales;<ref>{{cite web |title=Sperm Whale: Physeter macrocephalus |url=https://www.aquariumofpacific.org/onlinelearningcenter/species/sperm_whale |website=aquariumofpacific.org |access-date=2025-02-13}}</ref> but also, spiny and sharp,<ref name="HdGS 734"/> which could stem from whale barnacles; however, around the head, it is equipped with long rootlike horns akin to the base of an uprooted tree, and its eyes are big, with a circumference of 8–10 cubits (roughly {{convert|1.5–1.9|m|ft|abbr=on}} in diameter, the same as on {{lang|la|Carta marina}}), the pupils being one cubit (≈ {{convert|0.6|m|ft|abbr=on}}) in width and flaming red,<ref name="HdGS 734"/> which is more consistent with squids than any whale. In the dark, fishermen can see the flaming eyes from far away, indicating that these descriptions stem from the evening hours.<ref name="HdGS 734"/> The "flaming eyes" could stem from bioluminescent photophores, which are found on various squids, such as the ''Taningia danae'', which has two very large photophores on the end of two of its arms, the largest known in the natural world,<ref>{{cite web |title=Rare deep-sea squid filmed at depth |url=https://www.uwa.edu.au/news/article/2024/may/rare-deep-sea-squid-filmed-at-depth |website=uwa.edu.au |access-date=2025-02-14}}</ref> but also the colossal squid, which actually has light organs in the eyes.<ref>{{cite web |title=Biology and ecology of the world's largest invertebrate, the colossal squid (Mesonychoteuthis hamiltoni): a short review |url=https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Photophores-of-the-colossal-squid-Mesonychoteuthis-hamiltoni-Panela-shows-the_fig9_315741354 |website=researchgate.net |access-date=2025-02-14}}</ref> Lastly, it has a beard, the hairs thick as goose feathers.<ref name="HdGS 734"/> Such could be stalked whale barnacles, like ''Xenobalanus globicipitis'', which usually hangs from fins or the lower jaw of whales.<ref name="Xenobalanus">{{cite web |title=Xenobalanus |url=https://media.hswstatic.com/eyJidWNrZXQiOiJjb250ZW50Lmhzd3N0YXRpYy5jb20iLCJrZXkiOiJnaWZcL2dldHR5aW1hZ2VzLTEzNjc4Nzg4ODIuanBnIiwiZWRpdHMiOnsicmVzaXplIjp7IndpZHRoIjo4Mjh9LCJ0b0Zvcm1hdCI6ImF2aWYifX0= |website=animals.howstuffworks.com |access-date=2025-08-17 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250520160815/https://media.hswstatic.com/eyJidWNrZXQiOiJjb250ZW50Lmhzd3N0YXRpYy5jb20iLCJrZXkiOiJnaWZcL2dldHR5aW1hZ2VzLTEzNjc4Nzg4ODIuanBnIiwiZWRpdHMiOnsicmVzaXplIjp7IndpZHRoIjo4Mjh9LCJ0b0Zvcm1hdCI6ImF2aWYifX0= |archive-date=2025-05-20 }}</ref>

thumb|19th century depiction of a squid clinging to the head of a sperm whale [[File:Kraken size (Olaus Magnus).png|thumb|Image depicting the thought experiment of upscaling a giant squid to the eye-dimensions given by Olaus Magnus, here 73 meters long, shown next to a 32 meter long blue whale and a near 2 meter tall human.]] Considering that sperm whales regularly hunt giant squids, and that these testimonies appear to be derived from evening hours, it seems reasonable to think they derive from sperm whales hunting giant squids to the surface. In turn, if these eye dimensions are compared to a modern day giant squid, where a roughly {{convert|13|m}} long squid has an eye up to {{convert|27|cm|abbr=on}} in diameter,<ref>{{cite web |title=giant squid |url=https://www.britannica.com/animal/giant-squid |publisher=britannica.com |access-date=2025-02-09}}</ref> giving a rough "length to eye-diameter"-ratio of 1:48, then the theoretical squid Magnus described, given the same ratio, would be roughly {{convert|73-92|m|ft|abbr=on}} long.{{original research inline|date=August 2025}}

=== Christen Jensøn (1646) === The first description of the ''kraken'' by name is found in the Norwegian glossary of Christen Jensøn (or Jenssøn) from Askvoll, published in 1646, where he describes the Kraken as a sea monster with many arms that grabs boats down into the abyss.<ref name="jensøn"/>

=== Francesco Negri (1700) === A creature called ''"sciu-crak"'' ({{compare}} {{langx|no|sjø-krake}}, {{ipa|[ʂøː-²kɾɑː.kə]}}, "sea-kraken") is known from the Italian writer Francesco Negri in his ''Viaggio settentrionale'' (Padua, 1700), a travelogue about Scandinavia.<ref name="eberhart"/><ref name="beck"/> The book describes the ''sciu-crak'' as a massive "fish" which was many-horned or many-armed. The author also distinguished this from a sea serpent.<ref name="negri1701"/>

Although it has been stated that the kraken ({{langx|no|krake}}) was "described for the first time by that name" in the writings of Erik Pontoppidan, bishop of Bergen, in his ''Det første Forsøg paa Norges naturlige Historie'', "The First Attempt at [a] Natural History of Norway" (1752–53),<ref name=anderson/> a German source qualified Pontoppidan to be the first source on ''kraken'' available to be read in the German language.<ref>{{harvp|Müller|1802}}, p. 594: "Der norwegische Bischoff Pontoppidan ist der erster, welcher uns einer umständliche und deutsche Nachricht von diesem Seethier gegeben hat".</ref> A description of the kraken had been anticipated by Hans Egede.<ref name="knos"/>

=== Hans Egede (1729) === Hans Egede was possibly the first to have described the kraken using direct period folklore informants, in his ''Det gamle Grønlands nye perlustration'' (1729; Ger. t. 1730; tr. ''Description of Greenland'', 1745),<ref name="pilling"/> drawing from the fables of his native region, the {{interlanguage link|Nordlandene len|no|Nordlandenes len}} of Norway, then under Danish rule.{{Refn|The marginal header in the original is "''Fabel om Kraken i Nordlandene''"{{sfnp|Egede|1741|p=49 (footnote)}} which refers specifically to the len of Nordland under Danish rule; this is not just modern Norway's Nordland county, but includes the counties that lies farther north. Egede was born in Harstad, in Nordland (len) during his life. The town is now part of Troms Finnmark, Norway.}}<ref name="egede">{{harvp|Egede|1741|pp=48–49 (footnote)}}; {{harvp|Egede|1745|pp=86–87 (footnote)}} (English); {{harvp|Egede|1763|pp=111–113(footnote)}} (German)</ref>

According to his Norwegian informants, the kraken's body measured many miles in length, and when it surfaced it seemed to cover the whole sea, further described as "having many heads and a number of claws". With its claws it captured its prey, which included ships, men, fish, and animals, carrying its victims back into the depths.<ref name="egede"/> Egede conjectured that the ''krake'' was equatable to the monster that the Icelanders call ''hafgufa'', but as he had not obtained anything related to him through an informant, he had difficulty describing the latter (see {{section link||Hafgufa}}).<ref name="egede-havgufa">{{harvp|Egede|1741}}. p. 48: "Det 3die Monstrum, kaldet Havgufa som det allerforunderligte, veed Autor ikke ret at beskrive" p. 49: " af dennem kaldes Kraken, og er uden Tvil den self jamm; som Islænderne kalde Havgufa"; {{harvp|Egede|1745}}. p. 86: "The third monster, named ''Hafgufa''.. the Author does not well know ow to describe.. he never had any relation of it." p. 87: "''Kracken''.. no doubt the same that the Islanders call ''Hafgufa''"</ref>{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|Machan quoted Egede's text proper regarding some sort of "''Bæst''"<ref name=machan/> or "''forfærdelige Hav-Dyr'' [terrible sea-animal]" witnessed in the Colonies (Greenland),{{sfnp|Egede|1741|p=49}} but ignored the footnote which tells much on the ''krake''. Ruickbie quoted Egede's footnote, but decided to place it under his entry for "Hafgufa".<ref name="ruickbie"/>}}

According to the lore of Norwegian fishermen, they could mount upon the fish-attracting kraken as if it were a sand-bank ({{Lang|da|Fiske-Grund}} 'fishing shoal'), but if they ever had the misfortune to capture the kraken, getting it entangled on their hooks, the only way to avoid destruction was to pronounce its name to make it go back to its depths.<ref name="nyrop"/>{{sfnp|Egede|1745|p=88 (footnote)}} Egede also wrote that the krake fell under the general category of "sea spectre" ({{langx|da|søe-trold og}} [''søe'']-{{lang|da|{{linktext|spøgelse}}}}),{{Refn|The Norwegian ''trold'' (''troll'') can signify not just a giant, but ''spøkelser '' as well.<ref name=kvam/>}} adding that "the Drow" ({{langx|no|Drauen}}, definite form) was another being within that sea spectre classification (compare {{langx|no|drauv}}, see sea draugr).{{sfnp|Egede|1741|p=49}}{{sfnp|Egede|1745|p=88 (footnote)}}{{efn|Reference to the sea spectre ("phantom") was added in the English margin header: "A Norway Tale of ''Kraken'', a pretended phantom",{{sfnp|Egede|1745|p=87 (footnote)}} but that reference is wanting in the Danish original. It was already noted that the original wording localizes the legend specifically to {{interlanguage link|Nordlandene len|no|Nordlandenes len}}, not Norway altogether.}}{{citation needed|date=December 2024}}

=== Erik Pontoppidan (1753) === Erik Pontoppidan's ''Det første Forsøg paa Norges naturlige Historie'' (1752, actually volume 2, 1753)<ref>{{harvp|Pontoppidan|1753a}}; {{harvp|Pontoppidan|1753b}} (German); {{harvp|Pontoppidan|1755}} (English)</ref> made several claims regarding kraken, including the notion that the creature was sometimes mistaken for a group of small islands with fish swimming in-between,{{sfnp|Hamilton|1839|pp=329–330}} Norwegian fishermen often took the risk of trying to fish over kraken, since the catch was so plentiful{{sfnp|Metropolitana|1845|pp=255–256}} (hence the saying "You must have fished on Kraken"<ref>Bringsværd, T.A. (1970). The Kraken: A slimy giant at the bottom of the sea. In: [{{GBurl|id=AwngAAAAMAAJ}} ''Phantoms and Fairies: From Norwegian Folklore'']. Johan Grundt Tanum Forlag, Oslo. pp. 67–71.</ref>).

However, there was also the danger to seamen of being engulfed by the whirlpool when it submerged,{{sfnp|Hamilton|1839|pp=328–329}}<ref name="credibility"/> and this whirlpool was compared to Norway's famed Moskstraumen often known as "the Maelstrom".<ref>{{harvp|Pontoppidan|1753b|p=343}}: "Male-Strømmen ved Moskøe"; tr. {{harvp|Pontoppidan|1755|p=212}}: "the current of the river Male".</ref><ref name="perthensis"/>

Pontoppidan also described the destructive potential of the giant beast: "it is said that if [the creature's arms] were to lay hold of the largest man-of-war, they would pull it down to the bottom".<ref>{{harvp|Pontoppidan|1753b|p=342}}: {{langx|da|Orlogs-skib}}; {{harvp|Pontoppidan|1755|p=212}}: "largest man of war".</ref>{{sfnp|Hamilton|1839|pp=328–329}}<ref name=credibility /><ref name="Sjogren">Sjögren, Bengt (1980). ''Berömda vidunder''. Settern. {{ISBN|91-7586-023-6}} {{in lang|sv}}</ref>

Kraken purportedly exclusively fed for several months, then spent the following few months emptying its excrement, and the thickened clouded water attracted fish.{{sfnp|Pontoppidan|1755|p=212}} Later Henry Lee commented that the supposed excreta may have been the discharge of ink by a cephalopod.{{sfnp|Lee|1884|p=332}}

=== Søren Richart Hagerup (ca. 1770) === An anonymous glossary from Surnadal from around 1770, probably written by Søren Richart Hagerup, also gives a description of the kraken as a giant fish having tree-like fins, and able to sink a whole boat.<ref name="hagland"/>

== Mythical identifications == === Hafgufa === {{main|Hafgufa}}

[[File:Aspidochelone2-gks1633-danish-royal-library.jpg|thumb|The Aspidochelone, a fabled sea creature, from a 1400–1425 bestiary in the Danish Royal Library. The hafgufa is often compared to the Aspidochelone myth.]] Hans Egede made the aforementioned identification of ''krake'' as being the same as the ''hafgufa'' of the Icelanders,<ref name=machan/><ref name="egede-havgufa"/> though he seemed to have obtained the information indirectly from the medieval Norwegian treatise, the ''Speculum Regale'' (or ''King's Mirror'', {{circa|1250}}).{{efn|''Speculum Regale Islandicum'' after Thormodus Torfæus, as elocuted by Egede. The ''Speculum'' contains a detailed digression about whales and seals in the seas around Iceland and Greenland,<ref name=vigfusson/> where one finds description of the hafgufa.}}{{sfnp|Egede|1741|p=47}}{{sfnp|Egede|1741|p=85}}<ref name="knos"/><ref name=machan/> Later, {{interlanguage link|David Crantz|de|David Cranz}} in ''Historie von Grönland'' (''History of Greenland'', 1765) also reported ''kraken'' and the ''hafgufa'' to be synonymous.<ref name="crantz"/>{{sfnp|W[ilson]|1818|p=649}} An English translator of the ''King's Mirror'' in 1917 opted to translate ''hafgufa'' as ''kraken''.<ref name="speculum-larson-tr"/>

The hafgufa (described as the largest of the sea monsters, inhabiting the Greenland Sea) from the ''King's Mirror''<ref name="speculum"/><ref name="speculum-somerville-tr"/>{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|Bushnell speaks of Icelandic literature (in the 13th century) also, but strictly speaking, ''Örvar-Odds saga'' contains the mention of ''hafgufa'' and ''lyngbakr''<ref name="halldor-orvar-odd"/> only in the later recension, dated to the late 14th century.}} continues to be identified with the ''kraken'' in some scholarly writings,{{sfnp|Bushnell|2019|p=56}}<ref name=machan/> and if this equivalence were allowed, the kraken-hafgufa's range would extend, at least legendarily, to waters approaching Helluland (Baffin Island, Canada), as described in ''Örvar-Odds saga''.<ref name="mouritsen"/>{{efn|{{harvp|Mouritsen|Styrbæk|2018}} (book on inkfish) distinguishes the whale lyngbakr with the monster hafgufa.}}

The anonymously written ''Historia Norwegiæ'' also states that the ''hafgufa'' inhabited a deep fjord, accompanied by other sea beasts such as the '''‘'''''hafstramb'''’ ,''''' a gigantic creature with no head nor tail, the '''‘'''''hrosshvalr'''’,''''' depicted as a hippocampus (half horse, half fish) in imagery, as well as recognizable monstrosities like the Charybdis and Scylla.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Fisher |first=Peter |title=Historia Norwegie |publisher=Museum Tusculanum Press University of Copenhagen |publication-date=2006 |pages=57}}</ref>

==== Contrary opinion ==== The description of the ''hafgufa'' in the ''King's Mirror'' suggests a garbled eyewitness account of what was actually a whale, at least according to the {{lang|da|Grönlands historiske Mindesmaerker}}.{{sfnp|Kongelige nordiske oldskrift-selskab|1845|p=372}} {{interlanguage link|Halldór Hermannsson|sv}} also reads the work as describing the ''hafgufa'' as a type of whale.<ref name="halldor1938-jaskonius"/> The whale motif suits the etymology, meaning "sea reeker", which could stem from a whale blowing water.

The ''King's Mirror'' does somewhat extensively reference maritime animal life, including: twenty-one whale species; six seal varieties; description of the walrus; ‘sea-hedges’; as well as the legendary likes of the merman, mermaid, and kraken. While the whales, specifically within the Icelandic oceans, are explained in fair amounts of detail — such: as those called ‘blubber-cutters’, the most numerous whales, growing to twenty ells in length, and noted as harmless to ships and men; the porpoise, which grows to a maximum of five ells; and the ‘caaing whale’, growing to lengths of seven ells — the tales of other, more dangerous and mythical ‘fish’ leave more room for ambiguity, and thus, interrogation.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Larson |first=Laurence |title=The King's Mirror (Speculum Regale Konungs Skuggsjá)) |publisher=Twayne Publishers Inc., New York and The American-Scandinavian Foundation |year=1917}}</ref>

Finnur Jónsson (1920) having arrived at the opinion that the kraken probably represented an inkfish (squid/octopus), as discussed earlier, expressed his skepticism towards the persistently accepted notion that the kraken originated from the ''hafgufa''.{{sfnp|Finnur Jónsson|1920|pp=113-114}}

== Taxonomic identifications == === Erik Pontoppidan (kraken's young) === Erik Pontoppidan wrote of a possible specimen of the kraken, "perhaps a young and careless one", which washed ashore and died in 1680 near Alstahaug Church on the island of Alsta, Norway.<ref name=Sjogren /><ref name="perthensis"/>{{sfnp|Metropolitana|1845|p=256}} He observed that it had long "arms", and guessed that it must have been crawling like a snail/slug with the use of these "arms", but got lodged in the landscape during the process.<ref>{{harvp|Pontoppidan|1753a|pp=344}}: "bruge paa Sneglenes Maade, med at strekke dem hid og did"; {{harvp|Pontoppidan|1755|p=213}}: "use [long arms, or antennae] like the Snail, in turning about".</ref><ref>{{harvp|Müller|1802}}, p. 595: "... mit denen es sowohl sich bewegt".</ref> 20th-century malacologist Paul Bartsch conjectured this to have been a giant squid,<ref name="bartsch"/> as did literary scholar Finnur Jónsson.<ref>{{harvp|Finnur Jónsson|1920|p=114}}. {{langx|no|"kjempebleksprut"}}; cf. :da:Kæmpeblæksprutte.</ref>

However, what Pontoppidan actually stated regarding what creatures he regarded as candidates for the kraken is quite complicated.{{citation needed|date=December 2024}}

Pontoppidan did tentatively identify the kraken to be a sort of giant crab, stating that the alias ''krabben'' best describes its characteristics.{{sfnp|Pontoppidan|1755|p=210}}<ref>{{harvp|Machan|2020}}: "In other words, Pontoppidan imagines the kraken as a kind of giant crab, although he, too, allows that the animal is largely unwitnessed and unknown.</ref><ref name="perthensis" />{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|Cf. kraken ''aka'' "the crab-fish" ({{langx|sv|Krabbfisken}}) described by Swedish magnate {{interlanguage link|Jacob Wallenberg (author)|sv|Jacob Wallenberg (författare)|lt=Jacob Wallenberg}} in ''Min son på galejan'' ("My son on the galley", 1781): {{blockquote|Kraken, also called the crab-fish, which is not that huge, for heads and tails counted, he is reckoned not to overtake the length of our Öland off Kalmar [i.e., {{convert|85|mi|km|0|abbr=in|disp=or}}] ... He stays at the sea floor, constantly surrounded by innumerable small fishes, who serve as his food and are fed by him in return: for his meal, (if I remember correctly what E. Pontoppidan writes,) lasts no longer than three months, and another three are then needed to digest it. His excrements nurture in the following an army of lesser fish, and for this reason, fishermen plumb after his resting place ... Gradually, Kraken ascends to the surface, and when he is at {{convert|10|to|12|fathom|m ft|spell=in|lk=in|disp=sqbr}} below, the boats had better move out of his vicinity, as he will shortly thereafter burst up, like a floating island, gushing out currnts like at Trollhättan [''Trollhätteströmmar''], his dreadful nostrils and making an ever-expanding ring of whirlpool, reaching many miles around. Could one doubt that this is the Leviathan of Job?<ref name="wallenberg"/><ref name="wallenberg-eng"/>}}}}

However, further down in his writing, compares the creature to some creature(s) from Pliny, Book IX, Ch. 4: the sea-monster called ''arbor'', with tree-branch like multiple arms,{{efn|This is called ''arbor marinus'' by Denys-Montfort, and equated with his kraken octopus, as discussed below.}} complicated by the fact that Pontoppidan adds another of Pliny's creature called ''rota'' with eight arms, and conflates them into one organism.<ref>{{harvp|Pontoppidan|1753a|pp=349–350}}; {{harvp|Pontoppidan|1755|p=215–216}}</ref>{{sfnp|Heuvelmans|2015|p=124}} Pontoppidan is suggesting this is an ancient example of ''kraken'', as a modern commentator analyzes.<ref>{{harvp|Heuvelmans|2015|p=124}}: "..it cannot pass through the Pillars of Hercules; he sees in it an obscure allusion" to the ''kraken''.</ref>

Pontoppidan then declared the kraken to be a type of ''polypus'' ({{=}}octopus){{Refn|Linnaeus's ''polypus'' is 'octopus' and glossed thus by Heuvelmans, but since Pontoppidan resorts to variant spellings such as ''polype'', this could lead to confusion. Gessner's ''polypus'' was an octopus as well.<ref name="buckland1876"/><ref name="gessner-polypus"/>}} or "starfish", particularly the kind Gessner called ''Stella Arborescens'', later identifiable as one of the northerly ophiurids<ref>{{harvp|Heuvelmans|2015|p=124}} actually only vaguely distinguishes it as "ophiurid" (order ''Ophiurida'').</ref> or possibly more specifically as one of the Gorgonocephalids or even the genus ''Gorgonocephalus'' (though no longer regarded as family/genus under order ''Ophiurida'', but under Phrynophiurida in current taxonomy).{{Refn|''Stella Arborescens'' was later classed in the old-''Astrophyton'' genus containing several species,{{sfnp|Lyman|1865|p=14}}<ref name="hurly"/> but it would now be obsolete to say ''Stella Arborescens'' belongs to the ''Astrophyton'' genus which now admits only a single New World species. One genus that would be applicable would be ''Gorgonocephalus'' because the 3 species ''A. linckii'', ''A. eucnemis'', ''A. lamarcki'' which occur in northern Europe according to Lyman,{{sfnp|Lyman|1865|p=14}} all of which are given modern accepted assignments as ''Gorgonocephalus'' spp.{{Refn|WoRMS database for ''A. linckii'',<ref name="WoRMS-astrophyton_linckii"/> etc.}}}}{{Refn|The original passage in the English translation reads:

{{blockquote|the Kraken ... with his many large horns or branches, as it were springing up from its body, which is round ... Both these descriptions [arbor and kraken] confirm my former suppositions, namely, that this Sea-animal belongs to the Polype or Star-fish species ... It seems to be of that Polypus kind which is called by the Dutch ''Zee-sonne'', by Rondeletius and Gessner Stella Arborescens.{{sfnp|Pontoppidan|1755|p=216}}<ref>[{{GBurl|id=k8UqAAAAYAAJ|p=622}} ''The London Magazine, or, Gentleman's Monthly Intelligencer''], Vol. 24 (Appendix, 1755). pp. 622–624.</ref>}}}}

This ancient ''arbor'' (admixed ''rota'' and thus made eight-armed) seems like an octopus at first blush{{sfnp|Heuvelmans|2015|p=78}} but with additional data, the ophiurid starfish now appears Pontoppidan's preferential choice.<ref>{{harvp|Heuvelmans|2015|p=124}}: "From the vague description given by the fishermen, it was just as legitimate to see in the ''kraken'' a giant ophiurid as a giant cephalopod".</ref>

The ophiurid starfish seems further fortified when he notes that "starfish" called "Medusa's heads" (''caput medusæ''; pl. ''capita medusæ'') are considered to be "the young of the great sea-kraken" by local lore. Pontoppidan ventured the 'young krakens' may rather be the eggs (''ova'') of the starfish.<ref>{{harvp|Pontoppidan|1753a|p=350}}; {{harvp|Pontoppidan|1755|p=216}}</ref> Pontopiddan was satisfied that "Medusa's heads" was the same as the foregoing starfish (''Stella arborensis'' of old),{{Refn|Pontoppidan noted that Medusa's head (Lat. pl. {{lang|la|capita Medusæ}}) is identified as Stella Arborescens by the naturalist Griffith Hughes.}} but "Medusa's heads" were something found ashore aplenty across Norway according to von Bergen, who thought it absurd these could be young "Kraken" since that would mean the seas would be full of (the adults).{{sfnp|Bergen|1761|pp=147–149}}{{sfnp|Heuvelmans|2015|p=126}} The "Medusa's heads" appear to be a Gorgonocephalid, with ''Gorgonocephalus'' spp. being tentatively suggested.{{Refn|Heuvelmans refers to "Gorgon's head",{{sfnp|Heuvelmans|2015|p=126}} which conservatively speaking refers to family Gorgonocephalidae, but there is also the ''Gorgonocephalus'' genus, of which ''Gorgonocephalus caputmedusae'' is the modern accepted name of ''Astrophyton linckii''<ref name="WoRMS-astrophyton_linckii"/> which Lyman hesitantly guesses may be Linnaeus's "Medusa's head"[?],{{sfnp|Lyman|1865|p=190}} and ''G. eucnemis'' was F. J. Bell's prime candidate for the proper name of "Shetland Argus", which he thought may be unreliably referred to by Linnaeus and Pontoppidan by the name of ''Asterias caput-medusæ''.<ref name="bell"/>}}{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|Actually there is even the species "Gorgon's head" ''Astrocladus euryale'', whose old name was ''Asterias euryale'',<ref name="WoRMS-asterias_euryale"/> which Blumenbach claimed was one of the species that Scandinavian naturalists considered kraken's children.<ref name=blumenbach/> But ''A. euryale'' inhabits South African waters. Blumenbach also named ''Euryale verrucosum'', old name of ''Astrocladus exiguus''<ref name="WoRMS-euryale_verrucosum"/> which occur in the Pacific.}}<ref name=blumenbach/>{{Refn|''Euryale verrucosum'' Lamarck is matched to accepted name ''Astrocladus exiguus'',<ref name="WoRMS-euryale_verrucosum"/> which occurs in the Pacific.<ref name="SeaLifeBase-exiguus"/>}}

<gallery widths="210" heights="150" perrow="2" caption="Medusa's head, 'kraken's young' according to fishermen's lore"> File:Gorgonocephalus caputmedusae from Trondheimsfjorden at Göteborgs Naturhistoriska Museum 2768.jpg|alt=Gorgonocephalus caputmedusae|''G. caputmedusae'' (old name ''Astrophyton linckii''<ref name="WoRMS-astrophyton_linckii"/>), possibly Pontoppidan's "Medusa's head"? according to Lyman;{{sfnp|Lyman|1865|p=190}} native to the North Sea.<ref name="SeaLifeBase-caputmedusae"/> File:Gorgonocephalus eucnemis, Murmansk Regional Museum.JPG|alt=Gorgonocephalus eucnemis, perhaps Shetland Argus|''G. eucnemis''.<ref name="WoRMS-gorgonocephalus_eucnemis"/> "Shetland Argus", according to Bell; possibly Pontoppidan's ''caput medusa[e]'' also;<ref name="bell"/><ref name="SeaLifeBase-eucnemis"/> this a more far-ranging species.<ref name="SeaLifeBase-eucnemis"/> </gallery>

In the end though, Pontoppidan again appears ambivalent, stating "Polype, or Star-fish [belongs to] the whole genus of Kors-Trold ['cross troll'], ... some that are much larger, .. even the very largest ... of the ocean", and concluding that "this Krake must be of the Polypus kind".<ref>{{harvp|Pontoppidan|1753a|pp=351–352}}; {{harvp|Pontoppidan|1755|p=217}}</ref> By "this Krake" here, he apparently meant in particular the giant ''polypus'' octopus of Carteia from Pliny, Book IX, Ch. 30 (though he only used the general nickname "ozaena" 'stinkard' for the octopus kind).{{sfnp|Heuvelmans|2015|p=124}}<ref name="gerhardt"/>{{efn|The ''ozaena'' nickname as literally 'stinkard' for the octopus on account of its reek is given in the side-by-sidy translation by Gerhardt. The polypus of Carteia tract, is thus given, but the Latin quoted by Pontoppidan "Namque et afflatu terribli canes agebat..." is blanked Gerhardt and only given in modern English, "were pitted against something uncanny, for by its awful breath it tormented the dogs, which it now scourged with the ends of its tentacles".. because it represents an interpolation by Pliny. }}

=== Denys de Montfort ===  In 1802, the French malacologist Pierre Denys de Montfort recognized the existence of two "species" of giant octopuses in ''Histoire Naturelle Générale et Particulière des Mollusques'', an encyclopedic description of mollusks.<ref name=denys-montfort-colossal/>

The "colossal giant" was supposedly the same as Pliny's "monstrous polypus",{{sfnp|Denys-Montfort|1801|pp=256, 258–259}}<ref>''Naturalis Historiae'' lib. ix. cap. 30 ''apud'' {{harvp|Lee|1875|pp=99, 100–103}} and Montfort, ibid.</ref> which was a man-killer which ripped apart ({{langx|la|{{linktext|distrahit}}}}) shipwrecked people and divers.{{Refn|''Natural History'', Book IX, Loeb edition. According to Pliny's source, Trebius Niger: "..for it struggles with him by coiling round him and it swallows him with sucker-cups and drags him asunder by its multiple suction, when it attacks men that have been shipwrecked or are diving".{{sfnp|Nigg|2014|p=148}}{{sfnp|Gerhardt|1966|p=152}}}}<ref>cf. {{harvp|Ashton|1890|pp=264–265}}</ref> Montfort accompanied his publication with an engraving representing the giant octopus poised to destroy a three-masted ship.<ref name=denys-montfort-colossal/><ref name="wilson_andrew"/>

Whereas the "kraken octopus", was the most gigantic animal on the planet in the writer's estimation, dwarfing Pliny's "colossal octopus"/"monstrous polypus",{{sfnp|Denys-Montfort|1801|p=386}}{{sfnp|Lee|1875|p=100}} and identified here as the aforementioned Pliny's monster, called the ''arbor marinus''.<ref>{{harvp|Denys-Montfort|1801|p=386}}, note (1) ''Arbor marinus''.</ref>

Montfort also listed additional wondrous fauna as identifiable with the kraken.<ref>{{harvp|Denys-Montfort|1801|p=386}}, note (1)</ref>{{sfnp|Mitchill|1813|p=405}} There was Christian Franz Paullini's ''monstrum marinum'' glossed as a sea crab ({{langx|de|Seekrabbe}}),<ref name=paullinus/> which a later biologist has suggested to be one of the ''Hyas spp.''<ref name="loven"/> It was also described as resembling Gessner's ''Cancer heracleoticus'' crab alleged to appear off the Finnish coast.<ref name="paullinus"/>{{sfnp|Lee|1875|p=100}} von Bergen's "''{{linktext|bellua |marina |omnium |vastissima}}''" (meaning 'vastest-of-all sea-beast'), namely the ''trolwal'' ('ogre whale', 'troll whale') of Northern Europe, and the ''Teufelwal'' ('devil whale') of the Germans follow in the list.{{sfnp|Heuvelmans|2015|p=91}}{{sfnp|Mitchill|1813|p=405}}

==== Angola octopus, pictured in St. Malo ==== It is in his chapter on the "colossal octopus" that Montfort provides the contemporary eyewitness example of a group of sailors who encounter the giant off the coast of Angola, who afterwards deposited a pictorial commemoration of the event as a votive offering at St. Thomas's chapel in Saint-Malo, France.<ref>{{harvp|Denys-Montfort|1801|p=270–278}}: "nouveau testament attribué a Saint-Thomas" (p. 276)</ref> Based on that picture, Montfort drew a "colossal octopus" attacking a ship, and included the engraving in his book.{{sfnp|Lee|1875|pp=100–103}}<ref name=nigg-woodcut>{{harvp|Nigg|2014|p=147}}: "The hand-colored woodcut is a reproduction of art in the Church of St. Malo in France".</ref> However, an English author recapitulating Montfort's account of it attaches an illustration of it, which was captioned: "The Kraken supposed a sepia or cuttlefish", while attributing Montfort.<ref>{{harvp|Hamilton|1839|pp=331–332}} and Plate XXX, [https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/18065353#page/389/mode/1up p. 326a]</ref>

Hamilton's book was not alone in recontextualizing Montfort's ship-assaulting colossal octopus as a kraken; for instance, the piece on the "kraken" by American zoologist Packard.{{Refn|Packard: "Denys Montfort took the cue, and.. represented a "kraken octopod" in the act of scuttling a three-master.."<ref name="packard"/>}}

The Frenchman Montfort used the obsolete scientific name ''Sepia octopodia'' but called it a ''poulpe'',{{sfnp|Denys-Montfort|1801|p=331}} which means "octopus" to this day; meanwhile the English-speaking naturalists had developed the convention of calling the octopus "eight-armed cuttle-fish", as did Packard<ref name="packard"/> and Hamilton,<ref name=hamilton-plate-xxx/> even though modern-day speakers are probably unfamiliar with that name.

==== Warship ''Ville de Paris'' ==== thumb|alt=200-foot octopus allegedly seen in 1813|The ''Niagara'' sighting. {{convert|200|ft|m|-1|adj=on|order=flip}} creature allegedly seen afloat in 1813, depicted as octopus by a naturalist Having accepted as fact that a colossal octopus was capable of dragging a ship down, Montfort made a more daring hypothesis. He attempted to blame colossal octopuses for the loss of ten warships under British control in 1782, including six captured French men-of-war. The disaster began with the distress signal fired by the captured ship of the line ''Ville de Paris'' which was then swallowed up by parting waves, and the other ships coming to aid shared the same fate. He proposed, by process of elimination, that such an event could only be accounted for as the work of many octopuses.<ref>{{harvp|Denys-Montfort|1801|pp=358ff; 367–368}}</ref>{{sfnp|Metropolitana|1845|p=258}}<ref name=lee-villedeparis>{{harvp|Lee|1875|pp=103–105}} and note</ref>

But it has been pointed out the sinkings have simply been explained by the presence of a storm,<ref name="wilson_andrew"/> and there appeared a surviving witness that stated they ran into a hurricane.<ref name="montgomery2016"/> Montfort's involving octopuses as complicit has been characterized as "reckless falsity".<ref name=lee-villedeparis/>

It has also been noted that Montfort once quipped to a friend, DeFrance: "If my entangled ship is accepted, I will make my 'colossal poulpe' overthrow a whole fleet".<ref name="dorbiny"/>{{sfnp|Lee|1875|p=103}}<ref name="packard"/>

==== ''Niagara'' ==== The ship ''Niagara'' on course from Lisbon to New York in 1813 logged a sighting of a marine animal spotted afloat at sea. It was claimed to be {{convert|200|ft|m|-1|abbr=in|order=flip}} in length, covered in shells, and had many birds alighted upon it.{{Citation needed|date=February 2024}}

Samuel Latham Mitchill reported this, and referencing Montfort's kraken, reproduced an illustration of it as an octopus.<ref>{{harvp|Mitchill|1813|pp=396–397}}. Captioned ''Sepia octopus''. {{harvp|Mitchill|1813|p=401}}: Linnaeus's ''Sepia octopus'' is explained to be the eight-armed animal called ''poulpe commun'' by the French, and which was neither the cuttlefish which have scales, nor squid which have plated.</ref>

=== Giant squid (''Architeuthis'') === {{main|Giant squid}}

thumb|Modern artistic depiction of a giant squid attacking two fisherman. A common conception of the kraken has been that it originates from sightings of giant squid.

The piece of squid recovered by the French ship ''Alecton'' in 1861, discussed by Henry Lee in his chapter on the "Kraken",{{sfnp|Lee|1884|pp=364–366}} would later be identified as a giant squid, ''Architeuthis'' by A. E. Verrill.{{sfnp|Verrill|1882|pp=262–267}}

After a specimen of the giant squid, ''Architeuthis'', was discovered by Rev. Moses Harvey and published in science by Professor A. E. Verrill, commentators have remarked on this cephalopod as possibly explaining the legendary kraken.{{sfnp|Verrill|1882|pp=213, 410}}<ref name="rogers"/><ref name="wilson_andrew-squid"/>

A similar discovery was made in 1873 by Theophilus Piccot and his assistant while fishing for herring in Newfoundland's Conception Bay. As they fished, they saw some large mass floating before them, and upon further investigation, they discovered that the creature had a beak the size of a “six gallon keg”, tentacles greater in height than the two men, and the ability to spew ink when threatened. Although this beast was able to escape the two men, Piccot did manage to hack two of the creature's tentacles off with a hatchet he had on board. After bringing the biological evidence to light, it was later concluded that squids of the giant variety do exist in our seas. Moreover, it was uncovered that these squid were not only larger than whales, but preyed upon them.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Williams |first=Wendy |title=Kraken: The Curious, Exciting, and Slightly Disturbing Science of Squid. |publisher=Harry N. Abrams |year=2011 |isbn=9781613120859}}</ref>

== Iconography == thumb|upright=1.3|alt=Kraken of the imagination|"Kraken of the imagination". John Gibson, 1887.<ref name="gibson"/>

As to the iconography, Denys-Montfort's engraving of the "colossal octopus" is often shown, though this differs from the kraken according to the French malacologist,{{sfnp|Lee|1875|pp=100–103}} and commentators are found characterizing the ship attack representing the "kraken octopod".<ref name="packard"/><ref>{{harvp|Moquin-Tandon|1865|p=311}} also remarks on the pictorial representation of the kraken to "the giant Cephalopods embracing a tall ship in his huge arms, aiming to swallow it", though the work cited is Sonnini de Manoncourt, ''Suites à Buffon''.</ref>

And after Denys-Monfort's illustration, various publishers produced similar illustrations depicting the kraken attacking a ship.<ref name=hamilton-plate-xxx/><ref name="gibson"/>

Whereas the kraken was described by Egede as having "many Heads and a Number of Claws", the creature is also depicted to have spikes or horns, at least in illustrations of creatures which commentators have conjectured to be krakens. The "bearded whale" shown on an early map (pictured above) is conjectured to be a kraken perhaps (cf. §Olaus Magnus below). Also, there was an alleged two-headed and horned monster that beached ashore in Dingle, County Kerry, Ireland, thought to be a giant cephalopod, of which there was a picture/painting made by the discoverer.<ref name="more"/> He made a travelling show of his work on canvas, as introduced in a book on the kraken.{{sfnp|Heuvelmans|2015|pp=141–142}}

=== Olaus Magnus' ''Carta marina'' === While Swedish writer Olaus Magnus did not use the term ''kraken'', various sea-monsters were illustrated on his famous map, the ''Carta marina'' (1539). Modern writers have since tried to interpret various sea creatures illustrated as a portrayal of the kraken.{{citation needed|date=December 2024}}

Ashton's ''Curious Creatures'' (1890) drew significantly from Olaus' work<ref name="ashton-reprint"/> and even quoted the Swede's description of the horned whale.{{sfnp|Ashton|1890|pp=221-222}} But he identified the kraken as a cephalopod and devoted much space on Pliny's and Olaus' descriptions of the giant "polypus",{{sfnp|Ashton|1890|pp=261-265}} noting that Olaus had represented the kraken-polypus as a crayfish or lobster in his illustrations,{{sfnp|Ashton|1890|p=244}} and even reproducing the images from both Olaus' book{{sfnp|Ashton|1890|p=262}}<ref name="olaus"/><ref name=olaus-eng/>{{efn|See the black and white woodcut reprodcution, Fig., right (Actually from Lee (1883), a different book; the same picture, without caption appears in the 1890 book.}} and his map.{{sfnp|Ashton|1890|p=263}}<ref>See fig. above, detail of ''Carta marina''.</ref> In Olaus's book, the giant lobster illustration is uncaptioned, but appears right above the words "De Polypis (on the octopus)", which is the chapter heading.<ref name="olaus"/> Henry Lee was also of the opinion that the multi-legged lobster was a misrepresentation of a reported cephalopod attack on a ship.<ref>{{harvp|Lee|1884}}, "Chapter: The Great Sea Serpent", p. 58: "From the crude image of a lobster having eight minor claws.. the transition is not great; and I believe that this also is a pictorial misrepresentation of a casualty by the attack of a calamary above described, .."</ref>

The legend in Olaus' map fails to clarify on the lobster-like monster "M",{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|However, elsewhere on the map, the giant lobster is called a lobster ({{langx|la-x-medieval|gambarus}}{{sp}}>{{sp}}{{langx|la|cammarus}}{{sp}}>{{sp}}{{langx|grc|{{linktext|κάμμαρος}}}}) in the legend; this is the one shown struggling with a one-horned beast.<ref>{{harvp|Olaus Magnus|1887}} [1539], [{{GBurl|id=70dHAQAAMAAJ|p=427}} p. 427]</ref>}} depicted off the island of Iona.{{efn|Iona is of course associated with the Irish saints, Columcille and St. Brendan.}}<ref>{{harvp|Olaus Magnus|1887}} [1539], p. 12: "'''G''': Totius tabulae indicem partemque regnorum Anglie Scotie et Hollandie demonstrat" is the entire text. There is no description here of the lobster-like monster labeled "M" in the map, unlike other beasts which are described.</ref> However, the associated writing called the ''Auslegung'' adds that this section of the map extends from Ireland to the "Insula Fortunata".<ref>{{harvp|Olaus Magnus|1887}} [1539], p. 12, note 5: "..Die geogr. Länge beginnt bald bei Irland, bald bei den Inseln "Fortunate"</ref> This "Fortunate Island" was a destination on ''St. Brendan's Voyage'', one of whose adventures was the landing of the crew on an island-sized monstrous fish,{{efn|This fish has a name: Jasconius.}} as depicted in a 17th-century engraving (cf. figure right);{{Refn|The "Insula Fortunate" is situated next to St. Brendan's in the engraving in Caspar Plautius's book (1621),<ref name="plautius"/> engraved by Wolfgang Kilian<ref name="feest"/> }} and this monstrous fish, according to Bartholin was the aforementioned ''hafgufa'',<ref name="bartholin"/> which has already been discussed above as one of the creatures of lore equated with kraken.{{citation needed|date=December 2024}}

<gallery widths="210" heights="150"> File:Carta Marina -polypus as lobster snatches man.jpg|alt=Giant crustacean-looking sea-monster with a man in its pincers|Monster "M" on the ''Carta marina'' (1539){{Refn|{{harvp|Ashton|1890}}. ''Curious Creatures'' p. 244. Ashton continues the discussion on pp. 262–263 using the reproduction of Olaus' woodcut, the same―except for bearing no caption― as fig. right, from Lee's ''Sea Monsters Unmasked'' (1883).<ref name="lee1883"/>}} File:Lee Henry1884-Unmasked-p058-Olaus-lobster.png|alt=Giant lobster snatches man aboard ship, after Olaus Magnus.|Ship-attacking crustacean, from Lee's ''Sea Monsters Unmasked'' (1883),<ref name="lee1883"/> after Olaus' (1555) ''A Description'' File:Houghton Typ 620.22.697 - Nova typis transacta navigatio.jpg|alt=St. Brendan's giant fish next to island, and the "fortunate isle" next to it|A giant fish encountered by St. Brendan. "Insula Fortunata" marked near it.<ref name="plautius"/> </gallery>

== Taxonomical influences == === Linnaeus's microcosmus === thumb|Sea-grapes, or cephalopod eggs The famous Swedish 18th-century naturalist Carl Linnaeus in his ''Systema Naturae'' (1735) described a fabulous genus ''Microcosmus'' a "body covered with various heterogeneous [other bits]" ({{langx|la|{{linktext|Corpus |variis |heterogeneis |tectum}}}}).<ref name="loven"/><ref name="linnaeus1735-SN-1st-ed"/><ref name="linnaeus1740-SN-german-tr"/>{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|Lovén gave the text as {{linktext|tegmen |ex |heterogeneis |compilatis}},<ref name="loven"/> but this reading occurs in the Latin-Swedish 6th edition of 1748.<ref name="linnaeus1748-SN-6th-ed"/> Whereas the 2nd edition has "testa" instead of "tegmen".<ref name="linnaeus1740-SN-2nd-ed"/>}}

Linnaeus cited four sources under ''Microcosmus'', namely:{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|Lóven indicates that these sources appeared in print in the second edition of ''SN'', but as a piece of marginalia, he notes these sources were also given in Linnaeus's 1733 lectures.<ref name="loven"/> The lecture was preserved in the Notes taken by Mennander, held by the Royal Library, Stockholm.{{sfnp|Lovén|1887|p=14, note 2}}}}<ref name="loven"/><ref name="linnaeus1740-SN-2nd-ed"/> Thomas Bartholin's ''cetus'' (≈whale) type ''hafgufa'';<ref name="bartholin"/> Christian Franz Paullini's ''monstrum marinum'' aforementioned;<ref name="paullinus"/> and Francesco Redi's giant tunicate (''Ascidia''<ref name="loven"/>) in Italian and Latin.<ref name="redi"/><ref name="redi-latin"/>

According to the Swedish zoologist Lovén, the common name ''kraken'' was added to the 6th edition of ''Systema Naturae'' (1748),<ref name="loven"/> which was a Latin version augmented with Swedish names<ref name=smithsonian-misc-coll/> (in blackletter), but such Swedish text is wanting on this particular entry, e.g. in the copy held by NCSU.<ref name="linnaeus1748-SN-6th-ed"/> It is true that the 7th edition of 1748, which adds German vernacular names,<ref name=smithsonian-misc-coll/> identifies the ''Microcosmus'' as "sea-grape" ({{langx|de|Meertrauben}}), referring to a cluster of cephalopod eggs.<ref name="linnaeus1748-SN-7th-ed"/><ref name="heuvelmans"/>{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|"Meer{{=}}Trauben" already appeared in the 1740 Latin-German edition.<ref name="linnaeus1740-SN-german-tr"/> The 9th edition of 1956, which is said to be the same as the 6th edition,<ref name=smithsonian-misc-coll/> also leaves a blanc instead of adding the French vernacular name.<ref name="linnaeus1756-SN-9th-ed"/>}}{{Refn|group= "lower-alpha"|An illustration of sea-grapes ({{langx|fr|raisins de mer}}) appears on {{harvp|Moquin-Tandon|1865|p=309}}.}}

Also, the Frenchman Louis Figuier in 1860 misstated that Linnaeus included in his classification a cephalopod called "''Sepia microcosmus''"{{efn|As noted previously, ''Sepia'' genus represents cuttlefish in modern taxonomy, Linnaeus's genus ''Sepia'' was essentially "cephalopods", and his ''Sepia octopodia'' was the common octopus.{{sfnp|Heuvelmans|2015|p=147?}}<ref>{{harvp|Mitchill|1813|pp=402–203}}: "[Mr. Montfort's].. gigantic Sepia.. [which he] calls Colossal". Also Mitchill, ''passim.'' gives ''Sepia octopus'' (recté ''octopodia'').</ref>}} in his first edition of ''Systema Naturae'' (1735).<ref name="figuier"/> Figuier's mistake has been pointed out, and Linnaeus never represented the kraken as such a cephalopod.<ref>{{harvp|Heuvelmans|2015|p=118, note 2}}: "..incorrectly claimed, following Louis Figuier (1860) and later Alfred {{harvp|Moquin-Tandon|1865}} that Linnaeus had classified the kraken as the cephalopod ''Sepia microcosmus''. This is completely false.</ref> Nevertheless, the error has been perpetuated by even modern-day writers.{{Refn|The notion that Linnaeus mentioned the kraken in 1735 has been taken to be fact by {{harvp|Bushnell|2019|p=56}}, and Richard Ellis in 2006 also assumed the ''Sepia microcosmus'' was present in the first edition, concluding therefore it was removed by the time a later edition appeared.<ref name="ellis2006"/>}}

=== Linnaeus' ''System of Nature'' in English === Thomas Pennant, an Englishman, had written of ''Sepia octopodia'' as "eight-armed cuttlefish" (we call it octopus today), and documented reported cases in the Indian isles where specimen grow to {{convert|2|fathom|m ft|disp=sqbr}} wide, "and each arms {{convert|9|fathom|m ft|disp=sqbr}} long".<ref name="packard"/><ref name="pennant"/> This was added as a species ''Sepia octopusa'' [sic.] by William Turton in his English version of Linnaeus' ''System of Nature'', together with the account of the {{convert|9|fathom|m ft|adj=mid|-long}} armed octopuses.<ref name="packard"/><ref name="turton"/>

The trail stemming from Linnaeus, eventually leading to such pieces on the kraken written in English by the naturalist James Wilson for the ''Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine'' in 1818 sparked an awareness of the kraken among 19th-century English, hence Tennyson's poem, "The Kraken".{{sfnp|Bushnell|2019|p=56}}

=== Paleo-cephalopod (''Triassic kraken'') === {{Main|Mark McMenamin#Triassic kraken}}

Paleontologist Mark McMenamin and his spouse Dianna Schulte McMenamin claimed that an ancient, giant cephalopod resembling the legendary kraken caused the deaths of ichthyosaurs during the Triassic period.<ref>{{cite journal |url=https://www.nature.com/news/2011/111011/full/news.2011.586.html |first=Sid |last=Perkins |title=Kraken versus ichthyosaur: let battle commence |date=2011 |journal=Nature |doi=10.1038/news.2011.586 |access-date=April 25, 2026 |doi-access=free |url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=McMenamin |first1=Mark A. S. |last2=McMenamin |first2=Dianna Schulte |date=Oct 2011 |title=Triassic Kraken: The Berlin Ichthyosaur Death Assemblage Interpreted as a Giant Cephalopod Midden |url=http://gsa.confex.com/gsa/2011AM/finalprogram/abstract_197227.htm |journal=Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs |volume=43 |issue=5 |page=310 |access-date=April 25, 2026 |archive-date=14 May 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190514141456/https://gsa.confex.com/gsa/2011AM/finalprogram/abstract_197227.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |author1=McMenamin, M. A. S. |author2=McMenamin, Dianna Schulte |year=2013 |title=The Kraken's back: New evidence regarding possible cephalopod arrangement of ichthyosaur skeletons |journal=Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs |volume=43 |issue=5 |page=87}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=McMenamin |first=Mark A. S. |date=2023 |title=A Late Triassic Nuculanoid Clam (Bivalvia: Nuculanoidea) and Associated Mollusks: Implications for Luning Formation (Nevada, USA) Paleobathymetry |journal=Geosciences |language=en |volume=13 |issue=3 |pages=80 |doi=10.3390/geosciences13030080 |issn=2076-3263 |doi-access=free |bibcode=2023Geosc..13...80M }}</ref> However, this theory has been met with criticisms by multiple researchers.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://the-meniscus.blogspot.com/2011/10/kraken-sleepeth.html | title=The Meniscus: The Kraken Sleepeth | date=16 October 2011 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Simpson |first=Sarah |date=October 11, 2011 |title=Smokin' Kraken? |url=http://news.discovery.com/earth/smokin-kraken-111011.html |accessdate=April 25, 2026 |work=Discovery News |publisher=Discovery Channel |archive-date=12 October 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111012004754/http://news.discovery.com/earth/smokin-kraken-111011.html |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |date=October 12, 2011 |title=Mythical Kraken-Like Sea Monster Might be Real: Researcher |url=http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/229497/20111012/mythical-kraken-kraken-prehistoric-oceans-ichthyosaur-bones-charles-lewis-camp.htm |accessdate=April 25, 2026 |work=International Business Times |publisher=The International Business Times Inc.}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Than |first1=Ker |date=October 11, 2011 |title=Kraken Sea Monster Account "Bizarre and Miraculous" |url=http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2011/10/111011-kraken-sea-monster-ichthyosaurs-science/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111012163622/http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2011/10/111011-kraken-sea-monster-ichthyosaurs-science/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=12 October 2011 |accessdate=April 25, 2026 |work=National Geographic News |publisher=National Geographic Society}}</ref>

===Late Cretaceous giant octopodes=== In 2026, an international team of researchers, having studied in detail 27 fossilized octopod jaws from outer-shelf deposits of Japan and Vancouver Island, came to the conclusion that giant finned octopodes of the genus ''Nanaimoteuthis'' were highly intelligent apex predators and possibly the largest animals in the Late Cretaceous seas.<ref name=Ikegami2026/> The researchers estimated ''Nanaimoteuthis jeletzkyi'' and ''N. haggarti'' to be 3-8 m and 7-19 m long, respectively, and stated that, based on the wear patterns on their jaws, these "krakens" fed on vertebrates with harder internal skeletons. The authors noted that top predators among both cephalopods and vertebrates arose as a result of convergent evolution, acquiring powerful jaws and losing external skeletons.<ref name=Ikegami2026>{{cite journal|last1=Ikegami|first1=Shin|last2=Mutterlose|first2=Jörg|last3=Sugiura|first3=Kanta|last4=Takeda|first4=Yusuke|last5=Derin|first5=Mehmet Oguz|last6=Kubota|first6=Aya|last7=Tainaka|first7=Kazuki|last8=Harada|first8=Takahiro|last9=Nishida|first9=Harufumi|last10=Iba|first10=Yasuhiro|date=23 April 2026|title=Earliest octopuses were giant top predators in Cretaceous oceans|journal=Science|volume=392|issue=6796|pages=406-410|doi=10.1126/science.aea6285}}</ref>

== Literary influences == [[File:20000 squid holding sailor.jpg|thumb|upright|An illustration from the original 1870 edition of ''Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas'' by Jules Verne]]

The French novelist Victor Hugo's ''Les Travailleurs de la mer'' (1866, "Toilers of the Sea") discusses the man-eating octopus, the kraken of legend, called ''pieuvre'' by the locals of the Channel Islands (in the Guernsey dialect, etc.).<ref name="cahill"/><ref name="hugo1866"/>{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|Hugo also produced an ink and wash sketch of the octopus.<ref name="weiss"/>}} Hugo's octopus later influenced Jules Verne's depiction of the kraken in ''Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas'',<ref name="bhattacharjee"/> though Verne also drew on the real-life encounter the French ship ''Alecton'' had with what was probably a giant squid.{{sfnp|Nigg|2014|p=147}} It has been noted that Verne indiscriminately interchanged ''kraken'' with ''calmar'' (squid) and ''poulpe'' (octopus).<ref name=miller&walter/>

In the English-speaking world, examples in fine literature are Alfred Tennyson's 1830 irregular sonnet ''The Kraken''<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.victorianweb.org/authors/tennyson/kraken.html |title=The Kraken (1830) |website=Victorianweb.org |date=2005-01-11 |access-date=2011-11-21}}</ref> and references in Herman Melville's 1851 novel ''Moby-Dick'' (Chapter 59 "Squid"),<ref>{{cite book |url=https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/2701 |title=Moby Dick; Or, The Whale |last=Melville |first=Herman |author-link=Herman Melville |date=2001 |orig-year=1851 |publisher=Project Gutenberg}}</ref>

== Modern use == {{main|Kraken in popular culture}}

Although fictional and the subject of myth, the legend of the Kraken continues to the present day, with numerous references in film, literature, television, and other popular culture topics.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.cgdclass.com/stowellbarbara/spring_240_portfolio/ccsite/fantasy/culture.html |title=Under the Sea: The Kraken in Culture |first=Barbara A. |last=Stowell |date=2009 |website=cgdclass.com |access-date=April 8, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150923202113/http://www.cgdclass.com/stowellbarbara/spring_240_portfolio/ccsite/fantasy/culture.html |archive-date=2015-09-23}}</ref>

Examples include: John Wyndham's novel ''The Kraken Wakes'' (1953), the Kraken of Marvel Comics, the 1981 film ''Clash of the Titans'' and its 2010 remake of the same name, and the Seattle Kraken professional ice hockey team. Krakens also appear in video games such as ''Sea of Thieves'', ''God of War II'', ''Return of the Obra Dinn'' and ''Dredge''.{{citation needed|date=December 2024}} The kraken was also featured in two of the Pirates of the Caribbean movies, as the pet of the fearsome Davy Jones in the 2006 film, ''Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest'' and appears in the film's sequel, ''At World's End''.{{citation needed|date=December 2024}} In George R.R. Martin's fantasy novel series, A Song of Ice and Fire and its HBO series adaptations, ''Game of Thrones'' and ''House of the Dragon'', the mythical kraken is the sigil of House Greyjoy of the Iron Islands.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Prell |first1=Sam |title=Telltale's Game of Thrones teases are getting graphic |url=https://www.engadget.com/2014-11-02-telltales-game-of-thrones-teases-are-getting-graphic.html |website=Engadget |access-date=5 August 2025 |date=3 November 2014}}</ref>

The character of Cthulhu, created by H.P. Lovecraft in 1928, also serves as a modern depiction of the kraken, as this giant, squid-like humanoid creature embodies the horror originating with the idea of the mythological serpent, often denoting apocalypse, death, or sin, as well as the more contemporary concept of bodily horror.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Miller |first=T. S. |date=2011 |title=From Bodily Fear to Cosmic Horror (and Back Again): The Tentacle Monster from Primordial Chaos to Hello Cthulhu |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/26868434 |journal=Lovecraft Annual |issue=5 |pages=121–154 |jstor=26868434 |issn=1935-6102}}</ref>

Two features on the surfaces of other celestial objects have been named after the Kraken. ''Kraken Mare'', a major sea of liquid ethane and methane, is the largest known body of liquid on Saturn's moon Titan.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2017-04-25 |title=Kraken Mare: The Largest Methane Sea Known To Humankind |url=https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/which-is-the-largest-methane-sea-known-to-us.html |access-date=2023-10-13 |website=WorldAtlas |language=en-US}}</ref> ''Kraken Catena'' is a crater chain and possible tectonic fault on Neptune's moon Triton.<ref name="Stern1999">{{cite conference |url=https://www.lpi.usra.edu/meetings/LPSC99/pdf/1766.pdf |title=Triton's Surface Age and Impactor Population Revisited (Evidence for an Internal Ocean) |last1=Stern |first1=A. S. |last2=McKinnon |first2=W. B. |date=March 1999 |bibcode=1999LPI....30.1766S |location=Houston, TX |conference=30th Annual Lunar and Planetary Science Conference |id=1766}}</ref>

==See also== * Akkorokamui * Cetus * Cthulhu * Leviathan * Globster

== Explanatory notes == {{notelist}}

== References == === Citations === {{Reflist|refs= <ref name="anderson">{{cite book|last=Anderson |first=Rasmus B. |author-link=Rasmus B. Anderson |chapter=Kra'ken |title=Johnson's Universal Cyclopædia |edition=new |volume=5 |location= |publisher=D. Appletons |year=1896 |chapter-url={{GBurl|id=MNk7AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA26}} |page=26}}</ref>

<ref name="ashton-reprint">"[{{GBurl|id=0zg8AAAAIAAJ|q=Olaus+Magnus}} American-Scandinavian Biography for 1969] ''Scandinavian Studies'' '''42''' (3), . Brief notice of Ashton (1968) [1890], Detroit: Singing Tree Press.</ref>

<ref name="bartholin">{{cite book|last=Bartholin |first=Thomas |author-link=Thomas Bartholin |chapter=Historia XXIV. Cetorum genera |title=Thomae Bartholini historiarum anatomicarum rariorum centuria [III et ]IV |location= |publisher=typis Petri Hakii, acad. typogr. |year=1657 |chapter-url={{GBurl|id=p0JvSeIefa0C|p=283}} |page=283 |quote= |language=la}}</ref>

<ref name="bartsch">{{cite book|last=Bartsch |first=Paul |author-link=Paul Bartsch |chapter=Pirates of the Deep―Stories of the Squid and Octopu |title=Smithsonian Report for 1916 |location=Washington, DC |publisher=Government Printing Office |year=1917 |url={{GBurl|id=EE4XAQAAIAAJ|pg=RA1-PA391}} |pages=364–368 }}</ref>

<ref name="beck">{{citation|last=Beck |first=Thor Jensen |title=Northern Antiquities in French Learning and Literature (1755-1855): A Study in Preromantic Ideas |volume=2 |location=New York |publisher=Columbia University |date=1934 |page=199 |isbn= |quote=Before Pontoppidan, the same " Krake ” had been taken very seriously by the Italian traveler, Francesco Negri }}</ref>

<ref name="bell">{{citation|last=Bell |first=F. Jeffrey |author-link=Francis Jeffrey Bell |title=XLIV. Some Notes on British Ophiurids |journal=Annals and Magazine of Natural History |series=Sixth Series |number=47 |date=November 1891 |url={{GBurl|id=g-BEAAAAYAAJ|q=Stella+Arborescens}} |pages=342–344}}</ref>

<ref name="bhattacharjee">{{cite book|last=Bhattacharjee |first=Shuhita |author-link= |chapter=The Colonial Idol, the Animalistic, and the New Woman in the Imperial Gothic of Richard Marsh |editor1-last=Heholt |editor1-first=Ruth |editor1-link= |editor2-last=Edmundson|editor2-first=Melissa |editor2-link= |title=Gothic Animals: Uncanny Otherness and the Animal With-Out |location= |publisher=Springer Nature |year=2020 |chapter-url={{GBurl|id=XWvDDwAAQBAJ|p=259}} |page=259 |isbn=978-3-030-34540-2}}</ref>

<ref name=blumenbach>{{harvp|Metropolitana|1845|p=258}}: German physician Blumenbach summarized on what the "Northern Naturalist consider.. the young of the Kraken", and added ''Asterias euryale'' and "''Euryale Verrucosum'' of Lamarack"  to the list.</ref>

<ref name="buckland1876">{{cite book|last=Buckland |first=Francis Trevelyan |author-link=Francis Trevelyan Buckland |chapter= |title=Log-book of a Fisherman and Zoologist |location= |publisher=Chapman & Hall |year=1876 |url={{GBurl|id=lwMQAAAAYAAJ|p=209}} |page=209 |quote=}}</ref>

<ref name="bushnell-19c-england">{{harvp|Bushnell|2019|p=56}}: "Nineteenth-century English interest in the Kraken stems from Linnaeus's discussion of the creature in the first edition of ''Systema Naturae'' (1735) and most famously from ''Natural History of Norway'' (1752-3) by the Bishop.. Pontoppidan (translated into English soon after)".</ref>

<ref name="cahill">{{cite book|last=Cahill |first=James Leo |author-link= |title=Zoological Surrealism: The Nonhuman Cinema of Jean Painlevé |location= |publisher=U of Minnesota Press |date=2019 |url={{GBurl|id=iNmGDwAAQBAJ|pg=PT65}} |page= |isbn=978-1-4529-5922-1}}</ref>

<ref name="cleasby-vigfusson-kraki">Cleasby & Vigfusson (1874), ''An Icelandic-English Dictionary'', s.v. "{{GBurl|id=ne9fAAAAcAAJ|p=354}}" '[Dan. ''krage''], a pole, stake'</ref>

<ref name="crantz">{{cite book|last=Crantz |first=David |author-link=:de:David Cranz |title=The History of Greenland: Including an Account of the Mission Carried on by the United Brethren in that Country. From the German of David Crantz |volume=1 |location=|publisher= |year=1820 |url={{GBurl|id=MoK4Qx7p21wC|p=122}} |page=122 |quote=}}; Cf. [{{GBurl|id=MoK4Qx7p21wC|p=122}} Note X], pp. 323–338</ref>

<ref name="credibility">[Anonymous] (1849). [{{GBurl|id=ZYMEAAAAQAAJ|p=272}} (Review) New Books: ''An Essay on the credibility of the Kraken'']. ''The Nautical Magazine'' '''18'''(5): 272–276.</ref>

<ref name="ellis2006">{{cite book|last=Ellis |first=Richard |author-link=Richard Ellis (biologist) |title=Singing Whales and Flying Squid: The Discovery Of Marine Life |location=|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |year=2006 |url={{GBurl|id=jz7fCwAAQBAJ|p=143}} |page=143 |isbn=1-4617-4896-8|quote=}}</ref>

<ref name="dorbiny">{{cite book|last=d' Orbigny |first=Alcide |author-link=Alcide d'Orbigny |chapter=Poulpe colossal / Sepia gigas |title=Histoire naturelle générale et particulière des Céphalopodes acétabulifères vivants et fossiles: Texte |volume=1 |publisher=J. B. Baillière |year=1848 |chapter-url={{GBurl|id=AuZAAAAAcAAJ|pg=RA1-PA71}} |page=143 |isbn= |quote=}}: "Si nous Poulpe Colossal est admis, à la seconde édition je lui ferai renverser une {{linktext|escadre}}".</ref>

<ref name="eberhart">{{cite book |last=Eberhart |first=George M. |chapter=Kraken |title=Mysterious Creatures: A Guide to Cryptozoology |publisher=ABC-CLIO |year=2002 |chapter-url={{GBurl|id=z9gMsCUtCZUC|p=282}} |page=282ff |isbn=1-57607-283-5}}</ref>

<ref name="feest">{{citation|last=Feest |first=Christian F. |author-link=Christian F. Feest |title=Zemes Idolum Diabolicum: Surprise and success in Ethnographic Kunstkammer Research |journal=Archiv für Völkerkunde |volume=40 |date=1986 |url=https://www.academia.edu/34401272 |page=181}}; [{{GBurl|id=MwEcAAAAIAAJ|q=Wolfgang+Kilian}} snippet] via Google.</ref>

<ref name="figuier">{{cite book|last=Figuier|first=Louis |author-link=:fr:Louis Figuier |title=La vie et les moeurs des animaux zoophytes et mollusques par Louis Figuier |location=Paris |publisher=L. Hachette et C.ie |year=1866 |url={{GBurl|id=L2YLajhNjAcC|p=463}} |page=463 |quote=}}</ref>

<ref name="gerhardt">{{cite journal|last=Gerhardt |first=Mia I. |author-link= |title=Knowledge in decline: Ancient and medieval information on "ink-fishes" and their habits|journal=Vivarium |volume=4 |date=1966 |url={{GBurl|id=ZP4SAAAAIAAJ|q=polypus}} |pages=[{{GBurl|id=ZP4SAAAAIAAJ|q=stinkard}} 151], [{{GBurl|id=ZP4SAAAAIAAJ|q=Carteia}} 152]  |doi=10.1163/156853466X00079 |jstor=41963484}}</ref>

<ref name="gessner">{{cite book|last=Gesner |first=Conrad |author-link=Conrad Gessner |title=Fisch-Buch |location=Frankfurt-am-Main |publisher=Wilhelm Serlin |year=1670|url={{GBurl|id=X81YAAAAcAAJ|pg=RA1-PA124}} |pages=124–125 |quote= |series=Gesnerus redivivus auctus & emendatus, oder: Allgemeines Thier-Buch 4}}</ref> <ref name="gessner-polypus">{{cite book|last=Gesner |first=Conrad |author-link=Conrad Gessner |title=Fischbuch, das ist ein kurtze ... Beschreybung aller Fischen |location=Zürich |publisher=Christoffel Froschower |year=1575 |url={{GBurl|id=b2dUAAAAcAAJ|pg=PR110}} |page=cx and illustr. opposite |quote= |series=}}</ref>

<ref name="gibson">{{cite book |last=Gibson |first=John |author-link= |chapter=Chapter VI: The Legendary Kraken |title=Monsters of the Sea, Legendary and Authentic |location=London |publisher=T. Nelson |year=1887 |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/54285093 |chapter-url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/54285093#page/84/mode/1up |via=Biodiversity |pages=79–86 (plate, p. 83) |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220119013342/https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/54285093 |archive-date=19 January 2022 |quote= |access-date=19 January 2022 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

<ref name="halldor1938-jaskonius">{{harvp|Halldór Hermannsson|1938|p=11}}: ''Speculum regiae'' of the 13th century describes a monstrous whale which it calls ''hafgufa''... The whale as an island was, of course, known from the Saga of St. Brandan, but there it was called Jaskonius".</ref> <ref name="halldor-orvar-odd">{{harvp|Halldór Hermannsson|1938|p=}}; {{citation|author=Halldór Hermannsson |author-link=:is:Halldór Hermannsson |title=Jón Guðmundsson and his natural history of Iceland |journal=Islandica |volume=15 |date=1924 |url=https://archive.org/details/IslandicaAnnual15/page/n77/mode/2up |page=36, endnote to p. 8}}</ref>

<ref name="heuvelmans">{{cite book|last=Heuvelmans |first=Bernard |author-link=Bernard Heuvelmans |title=Kraken & The Colossal Octopus |location= |publisher=Routledge |date=2015 |orig-date=2006 |url={{GBurl|id=83xACwAAQBAJ|p=76}} |pages=117–118 |isbn=978-1-317-84701-4}}</ref>

<ref name="hugo1866">{{cite book|last=Hugo |first=Victor |author-link=Victor Hugo |title=Les travailleurs de la mer |location= |publisher=Lacroix |date=1866 |url={{GBurl|id=REAZPJNesOUC|pg=RA1-PA88}} |page=88}}</ref>

<ref name="hurly">{{cite book|last=Hurley|first=Desmond Eugene |author-link= |title=Some Amphipoda, Isopoda and Tanaidacea from Cook Strait |location= |publisher=Victoria University of Wellington|date=1957 |url={{GBurl|id=g-BEAAAAYAAJ|q=Stella+Arborescens}} |pages=2, 40|series=Zoology Publications from Victoria University of Wellington, 21}}</ref>

<ref name="hagland">{{cite book|last=Hagland|first=Jan Ragnar |title=Trønderord frå 1700-talet|location=Otta|publisher=Engers boktrykkeri|year=1986}}</ref>

<ref name="jensøn">{{cite book|last=Jensøn|first=Christen |title=Den Norſke Dictionarium eller Gloſebog|year=1646|pages=67-68}}</ref>

<ref name="jakobsen">{{citation|last=Jakobsen |first=Jakob |author-link=Jakob Jakobsen |chapter=krekin, krechin |title=Etymologisk ordbog over det norrøne sprog på Shetland |publisher=Prior |year=1921 |chapter-url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=wu.89099475378&view=1up&seq=483&q1=krekin |page=431}}; Cited in Collingwood, W. G. (1910). [https://archive.org/details/antiquarymagazin46londuoft/page/156/mode/2up?q=krekin Review], ''Antiquary'' '''46''': 157</ref>

<ref name=kvam>{{citation|last=Kvam|first=Lorentz Normann |author-link=:no:Lorentz N. Kvam |chapter=krekin, krechin |title=Trollene grynter i haugen |publisher=Nasjonalforlaget |year=1936 |chapter-url={{GBurl|id=uAnrAAAAMAAJ|q=troll+sp%C3%B8kelser}} |page=131 |quote=Den sier at med ekte troll forståes : a ) jutuler og riser, b ) gjengangere og spøkelser, - c ) nisser og dverger, d ) bergtroll |language=no}}</ref>

<ref name="plautius">{{citation|last=Plautius |first=Caspar (''aka'' Honorius Philoponus) |author-link= |title=Nova Typis Transacta Navigatio: Novi Orbis Indiae Occidentalis |location= |publisher= |year=1621|url={{GBurl|id=wOV4V9JnoykC|pg=PP32}} |pages=10a–11}}</ref>

<ref name="knos">{{cite book|editor=Kongelige nordiske oldskrift-selskab |editor-link=Kongelige Nordiske Oldskriftselskab |title=Grönlands historiske Mindesmaerker |volume=3 |location= |publisher=Brünnich |date=1845 |url={{GBurl|id=brtQAAAAcAAJ|p=371}} |page=371, note 52)}}</ref>

<ref name="knudsen">{{cite book|last=Knudsen |first=Knud |author-link=Knud Knudsen (linguist) |title=Er Norsk det samme som Dansk? |location=Christiania |publisher=Steenske Bogtrykkeri |date=1862 |url={{GBurl|id=tv1lAAAAcAAJ|p=41}} |page=41)}}</ref>

<ref name="laist">{{cite book|last=Laist |first=David W. |author-link= |title=North Atlantic Right Whales: From Hunted Leviathan to Conservation Icon |location= |publisher=Johns Hopkins University Press |date=2017|url={{GBurl|id=PmBgDgAAQBAJ|p=24}} |page=24 |isbn=978-1-4214-2098-1}}</ref>

<ref name="lee1883">{{cite book|last=Lee |first=Henry |author-link=Henry Lee (naturalist) |chapter=The Great Sea Serpent |title=Sea Monsters Unmasked |series=The Fisheries Exhibition Literature 3 |publisher=Chapman and Hall |date=1883 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-5kwAQAAMAAJ&pg=RA3-PA58 |page=58}}</ref>

<ref name="linnaeus1735-SN-1st-ed">{{cite book|last=Linnaeus |first=Carolus |author-link=Carl Linnaeus |title=Caroli Linnæi Systema naturæ |edition=1 |location=Leyden |publisher=Theodorus Haak |date=1735 |url={{GBurl|id=vHNGAQAAMAAJ|q=microcosmus|pg=PP17}} |page=}}</ref>

<ref name="linnaeus1740-SN-german-tr">{{cite book|last=Linnaeus |first=Carolus |author-link=Carl Linnaeus |editor-last=Langen |editor-first=Johann Joachim (tr.)|editor-link= |title=Caroli Linnæi Systema naturæ |trans-title=Natur{{=}}Systema, oder, Drey Reiche der Natur |edition=1 |location=Halle |publisher=Gebauer |date=1740 |url={{GBurl|id=zjxfAAAAcAAJ|p=68}} |page=68 |quote=Corpus variis heterogeneis tectum. Microcosmus marinus. Der Leib ist mit verschiedenen fremden Theilchen bedeckt. Die meer{{=}}Traube}}</ref>

<ref name="linnaeus1740-SN-2nd-ed">{{cite book|last=Linnaeus |first=Carolus |author-link=Carl Linnaeus |title= Caroli Linnæi Systema naturæ |edition=2 |location=Stockholm |publisher=Gottfr. Kiesewetter |date=1740 |url={{GBurl|id=Fpg5AAAAcAAJ|p=64}} |page=64}}</ref>

<ref name="linnaeus1748-SN-6th-ed">{{cite book|last=Linnaeus |first=Carolus |author-link=Carl Linnaeus |title= Caroli Linnæi Systema naturæ |edition=6 |location=Stockholm |publisher=Gottfr. Kiesewetter |date=1748 |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/83105#page/95/mode/1up |page=78 }} {{in lang|la}} {{in lang|sv}}</ref>

<ref name="linnaeus1748-SN-7th-ed">{{cite book|last=Linnaeus |first=Carolus |author-link=Carl Linnaeus |title= Caroli Linnæi Systema naturæ |edition=7 |location=Leipzig |publisher=Gottfr. Kiesewetter |date=1748 |url={{GBurl|id=Qh7G1wcn3t0C|q=meertraube|p=75}} |page=75 }} {{in lang|la}} {{in lang|de}}</ref>

<ref name="linnaeus1756-SN-9th-ed">{{cite book|last=Linnaeus |first=Carolus |author-link=Carl Linnaeus |title=Caroli Linnæi Systema naturæ |edition=9 |location=Leyden |publisher=Theodorus Haak |date=1756 |url={{GBurl|id=WfQTAAAAQAAJ|p=82}} |page=82}} {{in lang|la}} {{in lang|fr}}</ref>

<ref name="loven">{{cite book|last=Lovén |first=Sven |author-link=Sven Ludvig Lovén |title=On the Species of Echinoidea Described by Linnaeus in His Museum Ludovicae Ulricae |location=Stockholm |publisher=Kungliga Boktryckeriet P. A. Norstedt & Söner |date=1887 |url={{GBurl|id=XuoQAAAAIAAJ|p=20}} |pages=20–21, note 2}}</ref>

<ref name=machan>{{cite book|last=Machan |first=Tim William |author-link= |others=David Matthews, Anke Bernau, James Paz |chapter=Ch. 5. Narrative, Memory, Meaning /§Kraken |title=Northern memories and the English Middle Ages |location= |publisher=Manchester University Press |year=2020 |chapter-url={{GBurl|id=lnTnDwAAQBAJ|q=kraken|pg=PT202}} |pages= |isbn=978-1-5261-4537-6 }}</ref>

<ref name=miller&walter>{{cite book|last=Verne |first=Jules |author-link=Jules Verne |editor1-last=Miller |editor1-first=Walter James |editor1-link=Walter James Miller |editor2-last=Walter |editor2-first=Frederick Paul (tr.) |editor2-link= |title=Jules Verne's Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea: The Definitive Unabridged Edition Based on the Original French Texts |location= |publisher=Naval Institute Press |year=1993 |url={{GBurl|id=OGgBfwhIyOoC|q=calmar}} |page=note 13 |isbn=1-55750-877-1}}</ref>

<ref name="montgomery2016">{{cite book|last=Montgomery |first=Sy |author-link=Sy Montgomery |title=JThe Soul of an Octopus: A Surprising Exploration into the Wonder of Consciousness |location= |publisher=Simon and Schuster |year=2016 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BQWMDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA6 |page=note 13 |isbn=9781501161148}}</ref>

<ref name="more">{{citation|last=More |first=A. G. |author-link=Alexander Goodman More |title=Notice of a gigantic Cephalopod (Dinoteuthis proboscideus) which was stranded at Dingle, in Kerry, two hundred years ago |journal=Zoologist|volume=10 |date=July 1875|url={{GBurl|id=bAEXAAAAYAAJ|p=4526}} |pages=4526–4532 |series=Second series}}</ref>

<ref name="mouritsen">{{cite book|last1=Mouritsen |first1=Ole G. |author1-link=:da:Ole G. Mouritsen |last2=Styrbæk |first2=Klavs |author2-link= |title=Blæksprutterne kommer. Spis dem! |location= |publisher=Gyldendal A/S |year=2018 |url={{GBurl|id=0dxcDwAAQBAJ|pg=PT10}} |pages= |isbn=978-87-02-25953-7}}</ref>

<ref name="muenster1572">{{cite book|last=Münster |first=Sebastian |chapter=Monstra Marina & terrestria, quam in partibus aquilonis inueniuntur |author-link=Sebastian Münster |title=Cosmographiae vniuersalis lib. 6. in quibus iuxta certioris fidei scriptores, sine omni cuiuscumque molestia, uel laesione, describuntur. Omnium habitabilis orbis partium situs propriaeque dotes. Regionum topographicae picturae. ...|location= |publisher= |year=1572 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=f_YwjrQGXxwC&pg=RA11-PA1005 |pages=1004–1005}}</ref>

<ref name="munford1870">{{cite book|last=Munford |first=George |author-link= |chapter=Monstra Marina & terrestria, quam in partibus aquilonis inueniuntur |title=An Attempt to Ascertain the True Derivation of the Names of Towns and Villages and of Rivers, and Other Great Natural Features of the County of Norfolk. |location=London |publisher=Simpkin, Marshall & Company |year=1870|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=24dHAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA35 |page=35}}</ref>

<ref name="negri1701">{{citation|last=Negri |first=Francesco |author-link=Francesco Negri (travel writer) |title=Viaggio settentrionale |location=Forli |publisher= |date=1701 |orig-date=1700 |url={{GBurl|id=4J4rt2nDFhkC|p=184}} |pages=184–185 |quote=Sciu-crak è chiamato un pesce di smisurata grandezza, di figura piana, rotonda, con molte corna o braccia alle sue estremità |language=it}}</ref>

<ref name="nigg">{{cite book|last=Nigg |first=Joseph |author-link= |others=David Matthews, Anke Bernau, James Paz |chapter=The Kraken |title=Sea Monsters: A Voyage around the World's Most Beguiling Map |location= |publisher=University of Chicago Press |year=2014 |chapter-url={{GBurl|id=BT2NAgAAQBAJ|p=145}} |pages=145–146 |isbn=978-0-226-92518-9}}</ref>

<ref name="nyrop">{{citation|last=Nyrop|first=Kristoffer |author-link=:da:Kristoffer Nyrop |title=Navnets mag: en folkepsykologisk studie |journal=Opuscula Philologica: Mindre Afhandlinger |location=Copenhagen |publisher=Filologisk-historiske Samfund |date=1887 |url={{GBurl|id=zYZOAQAAMAAJ|p=182}} |page=182}}</ref>

<ref name="oed1-kraken">{{cite book|last=|first=|author-link= |chapter=kraken |title=Oxford English Dictionary |edition=1 |volume=V|location= |publisher=Oxford University Press |date=1933 |url= |page=754 |quote=Norw. ''kraken'', ''krakjen'', the ''-n'', being the suffixed definite article}} {{=}} ''A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles'' (1901), [{{GBurl|id=sRBPAAAAYAAJ|pg=RA2-PA754}} '''V''': 754]</ref>

<ref name="olaus">{{cite book|author=Olaus Magnus |author-link=Olaus Magnus |chapter=Liber XXI. De Polypis: Cap. XXXIIII |title=Historia de gentibus septentrionalibus |location=Rome |publisher=Giovanni M. Viotto |year=1555 |chapter-url={{GBurl|id=O9lEAAAAcAAJ|p=763}} |pages=763}}</ref>

<ref name="olaus-eng">{{cite book|author=Olaus Magnus |author-link=Olaus Magnus |editor-last=Foote |editor-first=Peter |editor-link=Peter Foote |title=Historia de Gentibus Septentrionalibus: Romæ 1555 |others=Fisher, Peter;, Higgens, Humphrey (trr.) |trans-title=Description of the Northern Peoples : Rome 1555|location= |publisher=Hakluyt Society |date=1998 |url={{GBurl|id=8uEkAQAAMAAJ|q=sprouts+horns}} |page=1092 |isbn=0-904180-43-3 |quote=}}</ref>

<ref name="olaus-CartaMarina-monstra">{{cite book|author=Olaus Magnus |author-link=Olaus Magnus |editor-last=Brenner |editor-first=Oscar |editor-link=:de:Oskar Brenner |chapter=Die ächte Karte des Olaus Magnus vom Jahre 1539 nach dem Exemplar de Münchener Staatsbibliothek |title=Forhandlinger i Videnskabs-selskabet i Christiania |location= |publisher=Trykt hos Brøgger & Christie |date=1887 |orig-date=1539 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=elFLAAAAYAAJ&pg=RA13-PA7 |page=7 |quote=monstra duo marina maxima vnum dentibus truculentum, alterum cornibus et visu flammeo horrendum / Cuius oculi circumferentia XVI vel XX pedum mensuram continet}}</ref>

<ref name="packard">{{cite journal|last=Packard |first=A. S. |author-link=Alpheus Spring Packard |title=Kraken |journal=The Connecticut School Journal |volume=2 |number=3 |date=March 1872 |url={{GBurl|id=azw6AQAAMAAJ|p=78}} |pages=78–79 |jstor=44648937}}</ref>

<ref name="paullinus">{{cite book|last=Paullinus |first=Christianus Franciscus |author-link=Christian Franz Paullini |chapter=Obs . LI: De Singulari monstro marino |title=Miscellanea curiosa sive Ephemeridum medico -physicarum germanicarum Academiæ naturae curiosorum |volume=Ann. VIII |location=|publisher=Vratislaviae et Bregae |date=1678 |chapter-url={{GBurl|id=epoy4waZfFoC|p=79}} |page=79 }}</ref>

<ref name=pennant>{{cite book|last=Pennant|first=Thomas |author-link=Thomas Pennant |chapter=Sepia |title=British ZoologyIV: Crustacea. Mollusca. Testacea |location= |publisher=Benjamin White |date=1777|chapter-url={{GBurl|id=2jufx-kXitoC|p=44}} |pages=44–45}}</ref>

<ref name="perthensis">"[{{GBurl|id=f1gKAQAAMAAJ|p=541}} Kraken]". ''Encyclopædia Perthensis; or Universal Dictionary of the Arts, Sciences, Literature, &c.''. '''12''' (2nd ed.). John Brown, Edinburgh. 1816. pp. 541–542.</ref>

<ref name="pilling">{{cite book|last=Pilling |first=James Constantine |author-link= |title=Proof-sheets of a Bibliography of the Languages of the North American Indians |location= |publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office |date=1885 |url={{GBurl|id=Jw4VAAAAIAAJ|p=226}} |pages=226–227|series=Smithsonian Institution Bureau of Ethnology: Miscellaneous publications 2}}</ref>

<ref name="pontopiddan-preface">{{harvp|Pontoppidan|1753a|p=[{{GBurl|id=ZVuF_HQlnYcC|pg=PP21}} xvi(?)]}}</ref>

<ref name="redi">{{cite book|last=Redi |first=Francesco |author-link=Francesco Redi |chapter=|title=Osservazioni intorno agli animali viventi che si trovano negli animali viventi |location=|publisher=Christoph Günther |date=1684 |url={{GBurl|id=QujdfeMwtukC|q=microcosmo+marino|p=61}} |pages=61, 217–218}} and [{{GBurl|id=QujdfeMwtukC|p=209}} Tab. 21]</ref>

<ref name="redi-latin">{{cite book|last=Redi |first=Francesco |author-link=Francesco Redi |chapter=Observationes Franisci Redi circa animalia viventia, quae reperiuntur in animalibus viventibus. Florentiae apud P. Batini 1684 in 4to |title=Acta eruditorum |location=|publisher=Christoph Günther |date=1686 |chapter-url={{GBurl|id=ZrJRAAAAcAAJ|p=48}} |page=84}}</ref>

<ref name="rogers">{{cite book|last=Rogers |first=Julia Ellen |author-link=Julia Ellen Rogers |chapter=The Giant Squids: Genus Architeuthis, Steenstrup |title=The Shell Book: a popular guide to a knowledge of the families of living mollusks |location=Garden City |publisher=Doubleday, Page & Company |date=1920 |chapter-url={{GBurl|id=po9PAQAAMAAJ|p=456}} |pages=456–458 |series=The Nature Library 15}}</ref>

<ref name="ruickbie">{{cite book|last=Ruickbie |first=Leo |author-link=Leo Ruickbie |chapter=Hafgufa |title=The Impossible Zoo: An encyclopedia of fabulous beasts and mythical monsters |location= |publisher=Little, Brown Book Group |date=2016 |chapter-url={{GBurl|id=noI_CwAAQBAJ|pg=PT145}} |page= |isbn=978-1-4721-3645-9}}</ref>

<ref name="SeaLifeBase-caputmedusae">{{SeaLifeBase species|genus=Gorgonocephalus |species=caputmedusae |id=50251|month=January |year=2022}}</ref> <ref name="SeaLifeBase-eucnemis">{{SeaLifeBase species|genus=Gorgonocephalus |species=eucnemis |id=49582|month=January |year=2022}}</ref> <ref name="SeaLifeBase-exiguus">{{SeaLifeBase species|genus=Astrocladu|species=exiguus |id=138913 |month=January |year=2022}}</ref>

<ref name=smithsonian-misc-coll>{{cite book|last=|first=|author-link= |chapter=Linné (Carl von) |title=Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections |location=|publisher=Smithsonian Institution |date=1874 |chapter-url={{GBurl|id=MXtHAQAAMAAJ|pg=RA1-PA32}} |pages=31–32}}</ref>

<ref name="speculum-larson-tr">{{citation|translator-last=Larson |translator-first=Laurence Marcellus |translator-link=Laurence M. Larson |chapter=XXII. The Marvels of the Icelandic Seas: whales; the kraken |title=The King's Mirror: (Speculum Regalae - Konungs Skuggsjá) |location= |publisher=Twayne Publishers |year=2013 |orig-year=1917 |chapter-url={{GBurl|id=kvA9AQAAMAAJ|q=kraken|p=125}} |page=125 |series=Library of Scandinavian literature 15|isbn=978-0-89067-008-8}}</ref>

<ref name="speculum-somerville-tr">{{citation|translator-last=Somerville |translator-first=Angus A. |translator-link= |chapter=Wonders of the Iceland sea |editor1-last=Somerville |editor1-first=Angus A. |editor1-link= |editor2-last=McDonald |editor2-first=R. Andrew |editor2-link= |title=The Viking Age: A Reader |edition=3 |location= |publisher=University of Toronto Press |date=2020 |orig-date=2019 |chapter-url={{GBurl|id=oBK_DwAAQBAJ|p=308}} |page=308|isbn=978-1-4875-7047-7}}</ref>

<ref name="speculum">{{citation|editor1-last=Keyser |editor1-first=Rudolf |editor1-link=Rudolf Keyser |editor2-last=Munch |editor2-first=Peter Andreas |editor2-link=Peter Andreas Munch |editor3-last=Unger |editor3-first=Carl Richard |editor3-link=Carl Richard Unger |chapter=Chapter 12 |title=Speculum Regale. Konungs-Skuggsjá |location=Oslo |publisher=Carl C. Werner & Co. |date=1848 |chapter-url={{GBurl|id=LgtIfLwQgX4C|q=hafgufu|p=32}} |page=32}}</ref>

<ref name="krabba sbst.1">{{cite web |title=krake sbst.1 |url=https://www.saob.se/artikel/?unik=K_2421-0232.glhY&pz=3 |website=saob.se |access-date=2023-08-31 |language=sv }}</ref> <ref name="krabba sbst.2">{{cite web |title=krake sbst.2 |url=https://www.saob.se/artikel/?unik=K_2421-0233.74pX&pz=3 |website=saob.se |access-date=2023-08-31 |language=sv }}</ref> <ref name="krake sbst.2">{{cite web |title=krake sbst.2 |url=https://www.saob.se/artikel/?unik=K_2421-0267.5e1i&pz=3 |website=saob.se |access-date=2023-07-12 |language=sv }}</ref> <ref name="krake sbst.3">{{cite web |title=krake sbst.3 |url=https://www.saob.se/artikel/?unik=K_2421-0268.2lIY&pz=3 |website=saob.se |access-date=2023-07-12 |language=sv }}</ref> <ref name="krake sbst.4">{{cite web |title=krake sbst.4 |url=https://www.saob.se/artikel/?unik=K_2421-0269.zr8V&pz=3 |website=saob.se |access-date=2023-07-12 |language=sv }}</ref> <ref name="kräkel sbst.1">{{cite web |title=kräkel sbst.1 |url=https://www.saob.se/artikel/?unik=K_2877-0260.GP3V&pz=3 |website=saob.se |access-date=2023-07-12 |language=sv }}</ref> <ref name="kräkel sbst.3">{{cite web |title=kräkel sbst.3 |url=https://www.saob.se/artikel/?unik=K_2877-0262.iLos&pz=3 |website=saob.se |access-date=2023-06-20 |language=sv }}</ref> <ref name="kräkel sbst.4">{{cite web |title=kräkel sbst.4 |url=https://www.saob.se/artikel/?unik=K_2877-0263.O1Jp&pz=3 |website=saob.se |access-date=2023-06-20 |language=sv }}</ref> <ref name="kräkla sbst.2">{{cite web |title=kräkla sbst.2 |url=https://www.saob.se/artikel/?unik=K_2877-0266.22u9&pz=3 |website=saob.se |access-date=2023-06-20 |language=sv}}</ref>

<ref name="turton">{{citation|last=Linnaeus |first=Carolus |author-link=Carl Linnaeus |translator-last=Turton |translator-first=William |translator-link=William Turton |chapter=47. Sepia |title=A general system of nature |location=London |publisher=Printed for Lackington, Allen, and Co |date=1806 |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/generalsystemna4linn/page/118/mode/2up |page=118}}</ref>

<ref name="UIB">{{cite web|url=https://ordbok.uib.no/perl/ordbok.cgi?OPP=kraken&ant_bokmaal=5&ant_nynorsk=5&begge=+&ordbok=begge|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201009072437/https://ordbok.uib.no/perl/ordbok.cgi?OPP=kraken&ant_bokmaal=5&ant_nynorsk=5&begge=+&ordbok=begge|url-status=dead|archive-date=9 October 2020|title=kraken|website=Bokmålsordboka {{!}} Nynorskordboka}}</ref> <ref name="UIB-draug">{{cite web|url=https://ordbok.uib.no/perl/ordbok.cgi?OPP=draug&ant_bokmaal=5&ant_nynorsk=5&begge=+&ordbok=begge|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220123100316/https://ordbok.uib.no/perl/ordbok.cgi?OPP=draug&ant_bokmaal=5&ant_nynorsk=5&begge=+&ordbok=begge|url-status=dead|archive-date=23 January 2022|title=draug|website=Bokmålsordboka {{!}} Nynorskordboka}}</ref>

<ref name="vigfusson">{{cite book|editor=Guðbrandur Vigfússon |editor-link=Guðbrandur Vigfússon |title=Sturlunga Saga: Including the Islendinga Saga |volume=1 |location= |publisher=Clarenden Press |year=1878 |url={{GBurl|id=dRYYAAAAYAAJ|pg=PR139}} |page=139}}</ref>

<ref name="weiss">{{cite book|last=Weiss |first=Allen S. |author-link= |chapter=4 The Epic of the Cephalopod |title=Feast and Folly: Cuisine, Intoxication, and the Poetics of the Sublime |location= |publisher=SUNY Press |date=2002|chapter-url={{GBurl|id=QWx-oAlHlEUC|p=73}} |pages=73–75 |isbn=0-7914-5518-1}}: repr. from Weiss (Winter 2002) in: ''Discourse'' '''24''' (1: Mortals to Death ), Wayne State University Press, pp. 150–159, {{JSTOR|41389633}}</ref>

<ref name="wilson_andrew">{{cite journal|ref={{SfnRef|Wilson, A.|1887a}}|last=Wilson |first=((Andrew, FRSE)) |author-link=Andrew Wilson (zoologist) |title=Science and Crime, and other essay |journal=The Humboldt Library of Science |number=88 |date=February 1887a |url={{GBurl|id=x9-AHABY5ysC|pg=RA5-PA23}} |page=23}}</ref>

<ref name="wallenberg">{{citation|last=Wallenberg |first=Jacob |author-link=:sv:Jacob Wallenberg (författare) |chapter=kapitele (ch. 17): Om en rar fisk |title=Min son på galejan, eller en ostindisk resa innehållande allehanda bläckhornskram, samlade på skeppet Finland, som afseglade ifrån Götheborg i Dec. 1769, och återkom dersammastädes i Junii 1771 |location=Stockholm |publisher=A. G. Hellsten |date=1836 |chapter-url={{GBurl|id=eY4nsNaEZOwC|q=kraken|p=163}} |page=163 |quote=Det ar ''kraken'', eller den så kallade ''krabbfisken'',.. lär han ej vara längre än vårt Öland utanför Calmar..|language=sv}}. The last paragraph that the remnants of the Swedish Pomeranian army may be able to haul a specimen if one could be obtained is curtailed in the Stockholm: A. G. Hellsten, 1836 edition [{{GBurl|id=gpbBOGZivqAC|p=44|q=krabbfisken}} Kap. XVII], pp. 44–45</ref>

<ref name="wallenberg-eng">Cf. {{citation|last=Wallenberg |first=Jacob |author-link=:sv:Jacob Wallenberg (författare) |others=Peter J. Graves (tr.) |title=My Son on the Galley |location=Chester Springs, PA |publisher=Dufour Editions |date=1994 |url={{GBurl|id=q07HAAAAIAAJ|q=Öland}} |pages=56–58 |isbn=1-870041-23-2 |quote=It is the kraken, the so - called crabfish, which is said to visit these waters occasionally . It is not large since, even including the head and the tail, it is not reckoned to be any longer than our island of Öland off Kalmar..}}</ref>

<ref name="wilson_andrew-squid">{{cite book|ref={{SfnRef|Wilson, A.|1887b}}|last=Wilson|first=((Andrew, FRSE)) |author-link=Andrew Wilson (zoologist) |chapter=V. The Past and Present of the Cuttlefishes |title=Studies in Life and Sense |location=|publisher=Chatto & Windus |date=1887b |chapter-url={{GBurl|id=aPcfAAAAIAAJ|p=108}} |pages=108–109}}</ref>

<ref name= WoRMS-asterias_euryale>{{cite WoRMS |editor-last1=Stöhr |editor-first1=S. |editor-last2=O'Hara |editor-first2=T. |editor-last3=Thuy |editor-first3=B. |year=2021 |title=''Asterias euryale'' Retzius, 1783 |id=216164 |access-date=28 January 2022}}</ref> <ref name="WoRMS-astrophyton_linckii">{{cite WoRMS |editor-last1=Stöhr |editor-first1=S. |editor-last2=O'Hara |editor-first2=T. |editor-last3=Thuy |editor-first3=B. |year=2021 |title=''Astrophyton linckii'' Müller & Troschel, 1842 |id=124960 |access-date=28 January 2022}}</ref> <ref name="WoRMS-euryale_verrucosum">{{cite WoRMS |editor-last1=Stöhr |editor-first1=S. |editor-last2=O'Hara |editor-first2=T. |editor-last3=Thuy |editor-first3=B. |year=2022 |title=''Euryale verrucosum'' Lamarck, 1816 |id=245916 |access-date=28 January 2022}}</ref> <ref name="WoRMS-gorgonocephalus_eucnemis">{{cite WoRMS |editor-last1=Stöhr |editor-first1=S. |editor-last2=O'Hara |editor-first2=T. |editor-last3=Thuy |editor-first3=B. |year=2022 |title=''Gorgonocephalus eucnemis'' (Müller & Troschel, 1842) |id=124969 |access-date=28 January 2022}}</ref> }}

=== Bibliography === {{Refbegin}} * {{cite book|last=Ashton |first=John |author-link= |title=Curious Creatures in Zoology: With 130 Illus. Throughout the Text |location=London |publisher=John C. Nimmo |year=1890 |url={{GBurl|id=d2YKAAAAIAAJ|q=kraken}} |pages=}} * {{cite book|last=Bergen |first=Karl August von |author-link=Karl August von Bergen |chapter=Observatio XXVIII: Microcosmo, bellua marina omnium |title=Nova acta physico-medica Academiae Caesareae Leopoldino-Carolinae naturae curiosorum exhibentia ephemerides |volume=2 |location=|publisher=impensis Wolfgangi Schwarzkopfii |date=1761 |chapter-url={{GBurl|id=USwddu8L9x8C|p=143}} |pages=143–150}} * {{cite book|last=Bushnell |first=Kelly |author-link= |chapter=Ch. 2 Tennyson's Kraken under the Microscope and in the Aquarium |editor-last=Abberley |editor-first=Will |editor-link= |title=Underwater Worlds: Submerged Visions in Science and Culture |location= |publisher=Cambridge Scholars Publishing |year=2019 |chapter-url={{GBurl|id=ATeEDwAAQBAJ|p=56}} |pages=52–72 |isbn=978-1-5275-2553-5}} * {{cite book|last=Denys-Montfort |first=Pierre |author-link=Pierre Denys de Montfort |chapter=La poulpe colossal – La poulpe kraken |title=Des mollusques |volume=2 |location=Paris |publisher=L'Imprimerie de F. 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(2016). Deep Bones. In: M.A.S. McMenamin ''Dynamic Paleontology: Using Quantification and Other Tools to Decipher the History of Life''. Springer, Cham. pp. 131–158. {{doi|10.1007/978-3-319-22777-1_9}} {{ISBN|978-3-319-22776-4}}.}} * {{citation|ref={{SfnRef|Metropolitana|1845}}|last= |first= |author-link= |chapter=Kraken |title=Encyclopædia Metropolitana; or, Universal Dictionary of Knowledge |location=London |publisher=B. Fellowes |date=1875 |chapter-url={{GBurl|id=3X1GAQAAIAAJ|p=255}} |pages=255–258}} * {{cite book|last=Mitchill |first=Samuel Latham |author-link=Samuel Latham Mitchill |chapter=Natural History |title=The Medical Repository (And Review Of American Publications On Medicine, Surgery And The Auxiliary Of Science) |volume=1 |series=new series |location=New York |publisher=John Forbes |year=1813 |chapter-url={{GBurl|id=FJpbAAAAcAAJ|p=396}} |pages=396–497}} * {{cite book|last=Moquin-Tandon |first=Alfred |author-link=Alfred Moquin-Tandon |others=Lackerbauer, P[ierre] (illustr.) |title=Le Monde de la mer |location=Paris |publisher=L. Hachette |year=1865 |url={{GBurl|id=p6h_uNdSIhIC|q=kraken|p=311}} |pages= |language=fr}} * {{citation|last=Müller |first=((Wilhelm, Dr., Prof.)) |author-link= |chapter=Kraken |title=Deutsche Encyclopädie oder Allgemeines Real-Wörterbuch aller Künste und Wissenschaften: Ko-Kraz |volume=22 |location=Frankfurt a. M. |publisher=Varrentrapp und Wenner |date=1802 |chapter-url={{GBurl|id=g2hkAAAAcAAJ|p=594}} |pages=594–605}} * {{cite book|last=Oudemans |first=A. C. |author-link=Anthonie Cornelis Oudemans |others=Lackerbauer, P[ierre] (illustr.) |title=The Great Sea-serpent: An Historical and Critical Treatise |volume=1 |location=Leiden |publisher=E.J. Brill |date=1892 |url={{GBurl|id=SERnAAAAcAAJ|p=414}} |pages= }} * {{cite book|last=Pontoppidan |first=Erich |author-link=Erik Pontoppidan |chapter=Kap. 8. §11. Kraken eller Horven det største dyr i Verden /§12Beskrivelse. |title=Det første Forsøg paa Norges naturlige Historie |volume=2 |location=Copenhagen |publisher=Berlingske Arvingers Bogtrykkerie |date=1753a |chapter-url={{GBurl|id=ZVuF_HQlnYcC|p=340}} |pages=[{{GBurl|id=ZVuF_HQlnYcC|pg=PP21}} xvi(?)], 340–345 |language=da}} [https://www.nb.no/nbsok/nb/34de0f4d96b2dd8914eeb75b5b49d484#393 digital copy]@National Library Norway * {{cite book|last=Pontoppidan |first=Erich |author-link=Erik Pontoppidan |author-mask=2 |chapter=Kap. 8. §11. Kraken oder Horven, das größte Thier in der Welt /12. Beschreibung dieses Thieres |title=Versuch einer natürlichen Geschichte Norwegens |volume=2 |location=Copenhagen |publisher=Franz Christian Mumme |date=1753b |chapter-url={{GBurl|id=QtoDeuND5fQC|q=kraken|p=394}} |pages=394–400|language=de}} * {{cite book|last=Pontoppidan |first=Erich |author-link=Erik Pontoppidan |author-mask=2 |chapter=Ch. 8. Sect. 11. Kraken, or Korven [sic.], the largest creature in the world /Sect. 12. Description |title=The Natural History of Norway...: Translated from the Danish Original |volume=2 |location=London |publisher=A. Linde |date=1755 |url={{GBurl|id=3OglUqRf_soC|pg=RA1-PA210}} |pages=210–213}} * {{citation|last=Verrill |first=A. E. |author-link=Addison Emery Verrill |chapter=Report on the Cephalopods of the Northeastern Coast of America |title=Report of the Commissioner |volume=7 |publisher=United States Fish Commission |date=1882 |chapter-url={{GBurl|id=UsEEAAAAQAAJ|p=211}} |pages=211–436}} * {{cite journal|last=W[ilson] |first=[James]|author-link=James Wilson (zoologist) |title=Remarks on the histories of the kraken and great sea serpent |journal=Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine |volume=2 |number=12 |date=March 1818 |publisher=William Blackwood|url={{GBurl|id=6MUCAAAAIAAJ|p=649}} |pages=[{{GBurl|id=6MUCAAAAIAAJ|p=645}} 645-654]}} {{Refend}}

== External links == {{Commons category}} {{Wiktionary|Kraken}} {{Wikisource}} * [https://web.archive.org/web/20060525182114/http://www.mediumaevum.com/75years/mirror/index.html ''The King's Mirror'']—See [https://web.archive.org/web/20050905220257/http://www.mediumaevum.com/75years/mirror/sec1.html#XII Chapter XII]

Category:Maritime folklore Category:Mythological aquatic creatures Category:Mythological cephalopods Category:Scandinavian legendary creatures Category:Sea monsters