.... what is one to make of that squid? Actually, and I'm sorry but I don't recall the details of where and when, but there's 'talk' of some giant cranchiid squid, Mesonychoteuthis hamiltoni, in the Arctic based on beaks recovered from sperm whales in the region (many species do have bipolar distributions), although no specimen, not even larval, has been captured in the area. I wrote a paper a few years ago about this beak id business, and how you couldn't admit a species into a regional faunal inventory based on them, as the majority are recorded from stomach contents of long-distance foraging marine predators.
There's always Galiteuthis phyllura, another thing thought to attain mantle lengths in the order of 2.7 metres, according to Nesis (1982/87, the latter the English translation), distributed from the Bering Sea to northern Japan and Baja California, and in the Sea of Okhotsk. Interesting really, 2.7 metres is larger than our Mesonychoteuthis specimen, and considerably larger (0.5 metres) than any Architeuthis that we've seen. Although we believe Mesonychoteuthis probably gets up to 4 metres mantle length (at least), Galiteuthis phyllura is still the largest squid thus far 'reliably' known (Nesis was certainly not one to exaggerate).
.... to cut a long story short, even though that thing depicted in the illustration above doesn't look true to any squid, it is probably more similar to a cranchiid than it is to an architeuthid.
As for confusing Taningia with Architeuthis, it happens all the time (even octopus, eg. Haliphron atlanticus), has been confused by experienced fisheries personnel in the past; basically if it's big and cephalopod people refer it to Architeuthis (along with Idioteuthis cordiformis and some Moroteuthis species).
Those pores are of great interest, and we'll get to the bottom of them soon.
Cheers
O