page_title: Cephalopod size
section_title: Mantle length
hierarchical_section_title: Cephalopod size / Maximum size / Largest species by measure / Mantle length
caption_attribution_description: English: Photo from In Search of Giant Squid - 1999 Expedition Journals, Smithsonian Institution.
context_page_description: Cephalopods vary enormously in size. The smallest are only about 1 centimetre long and weigh less than 1 gram at maturity, while the largest—the giant and colossal squids—can exceed 10 metres in length and weigh close to half a tonne, making them the largest living invertebrates. Living species range in mass more than three-billion-fold, or across nine orders of magnitude, from the lightest hatchlings to the heaviest adults. Certain cephalopod species are also noted for having individual body parts of exceptional size. The giant and colossal squids, for example, have the largest known eyes among living animals.
  Cephalopods were at one time the largest of all organisms on Earth, and numerous species of comparable size to the largest present day squids are known from the fossil record, including enormous examples of ammonoids, belemnoids, nautiloids, orthoceratoids, teuthids, and vampyromorphids. In terms of mass, the largest of all known cephalopods were likely the giant shelled ammonoids and endocerid nautiloids, though perhaps still second to the largest living cephalopods when considering tissue mass alone.
  Giant cephalopods have fascinated humankind since time immemorial.
context_section_description: The list of largest cephalopods by mantle length is dominated by squids, with more than twenty species exceeding the largest-bodied octopuses and cuttlefish. The largest of all is the colossal squid (Mesonychoteuthis hamiltoni) with an estimated maximum mantle length of 3 m (9.8 ft) (Roper & Jereb, 2010c:173). Even greater mantle lengths have historically been reported for the giant squid (Architeuthis dux), but these have been discredited (see O'Shea & Bolstad, 2008).
caption: Teuthologist Clyde Roper lying alongside a large giant squid (Architeuthis dux) specimen of almost 2 m (6.6 ft) ML
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