Behold, the earliest known photograph of an intact giant squid, taken in 1874. This black and white photo looks more like a prop from an old sci-fi creature-feature than a real life animal. The photo shows the squid draped over a sponge bath.
According to the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History:
"In late 1873, Reverend Moses Harvey of Newfoundland, an amateur naturalist and writer with an intense interest in curiosities from the sea, bought a dead giant squid for $10 from a fisherman who caught it by accident. Harvey immediately displayed it in his living room, draping the head and arms over the sponge bath for easy observation. It was the first complete giant squid specimen ever put on display, and it became a turning point in our understanding of giant squid. Professor A.E. Verrill of Yale University used Harvey's "curiosity" to provide the first accurate description and scientific illustration of the giant squid."
If I saw this photo without context, I'd think it was a fictional art piece. I'm glad to hear the giant squid wasn't captured on purpose. I can't imagine being the fisherman who caught it, and what it must have been like to pull this out of the sea in an age when giant squids weren't fully acknowledged as real yet, and often thought of as mythological beings.
See also: Zombie Dancing Squid!
