Giant squid Facts for Kids
Architeuthis dux · ar-kih-TOO-thiss DUKS
A huge animal of the deep sea with long arms and feeding tentacles.
- 🏃 speed: not yet checked
- ⚖️ 2,000 lb907 kg1
- 📏 35 to 45 ft11 to 14 m1 long
- 🎂 lifespan: not yet checked
- 🍽️ meat
- Doing fine (Least Concern)
A giant squid is a huge animal with a soft body and long arms. It lives in the deep sea. It has no backbone.
Giant squid live deep in the sea, far below the surface. A grown one is as long as a bus, counting the arms and the two long feeding tentacles. It eats deep-sea fish and some other deep-sea animals.
The giant squid is one of the biggest animals with no backbone. It lives in the deep sea. Counting its arms and long feeding tentacles, most of the ones people have found are as long as a bus, and a few are longer. It eats deep-sea fish and some other deep-sea animals.
How big is a giant squid?
Giant squid in numbers
| Length | 35 to 45 ft11 to 14 m1most specimens found, with the feeding tentacles; up to about 18 m |
|---|---|
| Height at the shoulder | no checked number yet |
| Weight | 2,000 lb907 kg1up to; about a ton |
| Top speed | no checked number yet |
| How long it lives | no checked number yet |
| What it eats | deep-sea fish and some other deep-sea animals |
| Where it lives | the deep sea, far below the surface |
| What kind | Bugs and other animals without backbones |
| Is it in danger? | Doing fine (Least Concern)2 |
A number we couldn’t find on a page we trust says so, instead of guessing.
Wow!
- A giant squid is as long as a bus, with its tentacles.
- It lives deep in the sea.
- It has no backbone.
Compare the giant squid
Friends and neighbours
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Sperm whale
Moon jellyfishThree questions
Books about the giant squid, free at the library
Ask a grown-up to tap the button: it shows where to borrow a book about the giant squid for free.
For teachers
Use this animal in class: its facts are on this page, and the cards print from it.
Where these numbers come from
- University of Michigan Museum of Zoology, Animal Diversity Web: Architeuthis dux (giant squid), checked 10 November 2026.
- Wikidata, from the IUCN Red List, checked 10 November 2026.
- Wikidata, Giant squid (Q13537131), checked 30 October 2026.