page_title: Cephalopod size
section_title: Total length
hierarchical_section_title: Cephalopod size / Maximum size / Largest species by measure / Total length
caption_attribution_description: English: Name: Neon flying squid (Ommastrephes bartramii). Location: Northern Hawaiian waters. Specimen Condition: Fresh. View: Ventral. Originally licensed under: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License - Version 3.0. Original Author: Richard E. Young, The Tree of Life Web Project.
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 longest scientifically documented specimens belong to the giant squid, with a maximum total length of 14–15 m (46–49 ft) (Roper & Shea, 2013:114). Despite its proportionally shorter tentacles, the colossal squid may rival the giant squid in total length, but the species's size limits are uncertain because only a handful of mature specimens have been recorded.
caption: A freshly caught specimen of Ommastrephes bartramii from northern Hawaiian waters. This species grows to a total length of 2 m (6.6 ft).
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