Kajanok

Kajanok Category Arthropoda Proposed scientific names Other names Aasivarluut, kajanok agdlinartok, kanajok, kanajoq, kanijok Country reported Canada, Greenland First reported 1986 Prominent investigators

The kajanok is a cryptid arthropod reported from shallow bays and lakes in Greenland and the Canadian Arctic, generally described as a giant aquatic arachnid. The Canadian Inuit call it aasivarluut, and describe it as a giant sea spider resembling a huntsman. The aasivarluut is said to wait on the seabed near shoals and inlets, ambushing prey animals such as seals which swim overhead. A kayaker west of Baffin Island claimed to have seen an aasivarluut in the early 20^th Century.

In western Greenland, where it is called kajanok agdlinartok, it is described as a "sea scorpion" the size of a boat, and is said to inhabit Lakes Natsilik and Umanak. Sea scorpions, or eurypterids, include the largest known arthropods of all time, and occur in the fossil record from the Middle Ordovician to the Late Permian (~467–251 MYA). Dale A. Drinnon regards the sea scorpion (eurypterid) identity as unlikely, but notes that possible surviving Steller's sea cows (Hydrodamalis gigas) have sometimes been described as resembling upturned boats. Other sources identify it with fishes known as sea scorpions: various species of sculpin such as Myoxocephalus scorpius or Myoxocephalus scorpioides.