The Spanish beachgoers of Cantabria were more than startled last Tuesday to discover that the carcass of a giant squid had washed up ashore.

The giant squid, called the Architeuthis Dux-measured up to 30 feet long and weighed a whopping 400 pounds. The carcass of the giant squid has since been delivered to the Maritime Museum of Cantabria, where it has been cleaned, frozen, and awaiting decisions by the government and scientists about what to do with the giant squid.

The carcass of the giant squid is a remarkable discovery, as previous specimens have rarely ever been examined as a whole. The giant squid that washed up in Spain was, strangely enough, still intact, tentacles and all. Onlookers have been especially in awe at the giant squid's eyes, which is about the size of a beach ball.

The Architeuthis Dux is a creature straight from fables and stories of old, appearing in Jules Verne's novel 20,000 leagues Under The Sea. It may also have been the source for the mysterious and monstrous Kraken, a giant squid so large it could pull down entire ships.

But the giant squid is rarely ever studied, as it lives thousands of feet underwater amid dark conditions and crushing pressured of the deep sea, and so despite being called the largest invertebrates in the world, they are elusive and henceforth incredibly difficult to study.

The persistence of scientists have, however, managed to skim the surface of the lives of these colossal cephalopods. Japanese researchers photographed the creatures in 2004, and in 2006 pulled to the surface a female giant squid measuring up to 24 feet.

Evidence of giant squids have once remained only in the battle scars left on the carcasses of sperm whales, their chief predator. Mile-long tentacle marks have left marks on the whales' hides, indicating that the giant squid can grow larger than 50 feet. Studies have shown that the 24-ft giant squid that had been pulled to the surface must have likely been a juvenile, and so the possibilities of an actual kraken-sized giant squid may not be impossible after all.