No one has ever seen a live giant squid, so National Geographic, in conjunction with the Smithsonian Institute and several academic institutions, organized an expedition to Kaikoura Canyon, off the coast of New Zealand, to pursue the elusive animal. Here's what they did know:

Giant Squid

Architeuthis dux

The giant squid is a cephalopod, the overall name for marine mollusks that includes squid, octopus, cuttlefish and the chambered nautilus.

Squid have eight arms and two long tentacles that end in sucker-lined "clubs" for grasping prey.

no one has ever seen a giant squid alive. The largest giant squid found washed ashore measured 59.5 feet. Its mantle was 16.4 feet and it weighed 1,000 pounds.

One of the few things known about the giant squid is that it is hunted by the sperm whale and it can sometimes leave its mark in the battle.

The giant squid's eyeball is the largest of any animal and can be the size of a human head.

The average size of the giant squid is 20 to 43 feet in total length. The mantle would be about 3 to 8 feet. The average weight is estimated to be 110 to 661 pounds.

Squid in the genus Architeuthi are found in the northern Atlantic, from Labrador to the Gulf of Mexico; northern Norway to the Azores; northern Pacific from the Bering Sea to the Sea of Japan: southern Japan, Hawaii and California. It is also found in the Southern Ocean.

They eat mainly fish and other squids based on scientific analysis of the stomach contents of two giant squid specimens.

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