No Casual Calamari

In San Diego, California, divers and cruising pods of Humboldt squid (also called "flying squid" and diabolos rojos [red devil]) had surprising and even frightening encounters.



The CSM article also boasts a 2008 photo of other Humboldt squid out of their element. No mention of Jules Verne and his imagined squid suggests these squid were also out of the running for giant category.
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Wiki-image of a stamp bearing an image of a squid is in the public domain.