The giant squid has consumed the imaginations of many oceanographers. How could something so big and powerful remain unseen for so long-or be less understood than dinosaurs, which died out millions of years ago? The search for a living specimen has inspired a fevered competition. For decades, teams of scientists have prowled the high seas in the hope of glimpsing one. These "squid squads" have in recent years invested millions of dollars and deployed scores of submarines and underwater cameras, in a struggle to be first.

It's hard to believe in 1997, but there is an animal lurking in many dark and spooky places around the world that can grow longer than a bus but has never been seen alive by man. … But the giant squid is real, and Dr. Clyde F. E. Roper of the Smithsonian Institution is likely to be one of the first humans to see it in its natural habitat.

Now 59, Roper has worked for more than 30 years at the Smithsonian, joined by Dr. Michael Sweeney and Dr. Michael Vecchione. Together, they call themselves the "Squid Squad."

A giant squid equipped with natural blue-green lights on two of its arms is going on display at the Smithsonian Institution — just to show, a researcher says, that "weird things actually exist."

Research Mike Vecchione is part of the museum's "squid squad," a team of scientists that researches the 10-armed denizens of the deep and maintains a collection of 100,000 preserved squids and related sea creatures.