The false marine biologist leading the hunt for the Krakken is named Jonah Melville. Both names are associated with sea monsters. Jonah was the biblical character swallowed by a whale. Herman Melville authored "Moby Dick," the 1851 novel about Captain Ahab's obsession with hunting a white whale.
The grizzled captain of the fishing boat is named Shaw, an homage to actor Robert Shaw who played Captain Quint in Jaws (1975).
Captain Shaw has a Scottish brogue and shows the Tennysons a photo resembling "Nessie," the sea dragon once popularly believed to inhabit Loch Ness in Scotland.
