sea creatures. Giant squid catch their food with tentacles and fight huge sperm whales. Manatees breathe air and must eat 100 pounds of food every day. Fifty-foot-long oarfish have silvery, snakelike bodies. What monsters could they have inspired? Find out more about these real-life sea monsters and the scary stories sailors told about them!

The couple’s description of a massive serpent-like animal is not what the video depicts. Manatees, when spooked or sporting, are capable of tremendous bursts of speed while intermittently breaking the surface to reveal tails or dark and shiny rounded backs in a spectacular commotion—behavior sufficient for a stereotypical sea serpent sighting.

An important discovery about the (eating) habits of giant squid: It doesn’t just float along waiting to bump into another sea creature, as previously believed, but is an active predator.

Learn about manatees, giant squid and oarfish, and how they shaped our understanding of the ocean’s depths.

Purpose: The first text discusses the giant squid. The second describes the manatee. Both focus on how humans have reacted to these creatures. Structure: The texts are mainly informational. Language: The language is conversational. Knowledge Demands: No prior knowledge is needed.