Carcass that washed ashore in St. Augustine in 1896

The lusca is a name given to a sea monster reported from the Caribbean. It has been suggested by cryptozoologists that the lusca is a gigantic octopus, far larger than the known giant octopuses of the genus Enteroctopus. Many reports of the creature are from the blue holes, off Andros, one of the Bahamas. The St. Augustine Monster (an example of a globster) which was washed up in 1896 on the Florida coast is considered one of the better candidates for a possible lusca specimen. Image File history File links St_augustine_carcass. ... Image File history File links St_augustine_carcass. ... Picture taken from a Hetzel copy of Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea Sea monsters are sea-dwelling, mythical or legendary creatures, often believed to be of immense size. ... Pen and wash drawing by malacologist Pierre Denys de Montfort, 1801, from the descriptions of French sailors reportedly attacked by a Kraken off the coast of Angola. ... Pen and wash drawing by malacologist, Pierre Denys de Montfort, 1801 from the descriptions of French sailors reportedly attacked by such a creature off the coast of Angola. ... Species Enteroctopus dofleini Enteroctopus juttingi Enteroctopus magnificus Enteroctopus megalocyathus Enteroctopus membranaceus Enteroctopus zealandicus Enteroctopus is a genus many of whose members are sometimes known as giant octopus. ... Beach and surface of the water at Blue Hole Blue Hole is a diving location on west Sinai in the Red Sea. ... Andros, or Andro (Greek: Άνδρος), an island of the Greek archipelago, the most northerly of the Cyclades, approximately 10 km (6 miles) south east of Euboea, and about 3 km (about 2 miles) north of Tinos. ... The carcass as it appeared after being dug out of the sand. ... Carcass that washed ashore near St. ... 1896 (MDCCCXCVI) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...

The Lusca is said to grow over 75 feet long, or even 200 feet long, although many skeptics dispute these claims as there are no proven cases of other species growing to half these lengths. Also to attack properly on the surface, the octopus would have to have one tentacle on the sea floor to balance itself, this would mean that such accounts, if real, would have to take place in relatively shallow water. Other descriptions also mention that it can change colour, a characteristic it has in common with smaller octopuses. The supposed habitat is rugged underwater terrain, large undersea caves, the edge of the continental shelf etc, where large crustaceans can be found, which it is supposed they feed on.

Lusca and other sea monsters

As the lusca has been described as an octopus-like monster, it may have connection with such other reported cephalopod-like sea monsters such as the kraken. Pen and wash drawing by malacologist Pierre Denys de Montfort, 1801, from the descriptions of French sailors reportedly attacked by such a creature off the coast of Angola. ...

Lusca in fiction

In the MMORPG City of Heroes, Lusca is a species of giant octopus that periodically surfaces inside the shipping borough of Independence Port. Upon defeating one of these 'giant monsters', heroes are usually awarded a 'Devilfish' badge. As many as three have been reported to appear at a time. An image from World of Warcraft, the largest commercial MMORPG as of 2007, based on active subscriptions. ... City of Heroes (CoH) is a massively multiplayer online role-playing computer game based on the superhero comic book genre, developed by Cryptic Studios and published by NCsoft. ...

The Lusca of City of Heroes are far larger than the species mentioned in the article above.

• Giant Octopus
• The Kraken and the Colossal Octopus
• The St Augustine Giant Octopus
• Giant octopus links

See also

• Kraken
• Giant squid
• Cthulhu