Aussie Giant Squid
Posted by: Craig Woolheater on July 12th, 2007
A supplied photo taken 10 July 2007 shows an eight-metre long giant squid washed up dead at Strahan on Tasmania’s west coast. It is one of the biggest ever found, weighing in at 250 kilograms. Scientists, who see it as an exciting and intriguing discovery, will 11 July take DNA and tissue samples before transporting it to Hobart for a post-mortem examination.
(AFP/TPWS/Chris Arthur)
Rare giant squid washed up in Australia
One of the largest giant squid ever found has washed up on a remote Australian beach, sparking a race against time by scientists to examine the rarely seen deep-ocean creature.
The squid, the mantle or main body of which measured two-meters (6.5 feet) long, was found by a walker late on Tuesday on Ocean Beach, near Strahan, on the western coast of island state Tasmania.
“It’s a whopper,” Tasmanian Museum senior curator Genefor Walker-Smith told local media on Wednesday. “The main mantle is about one meter across and its total length is about eight meters.”
Scientists would take samples from the creature, identified by state parks officials as an Architeuthis, which can grow to more than 10 meters (33 feet) in length and weigh more than 275 kilograms (606 pounds). The Tasmanian animal was 250 kg, Pemberton said.
The tentacles had been badly damaged, so the overall length of the animal could not be determined, a Tasmania Parks and Wildlife spokeswoman said. Park rangers had moved the remains from the water.
Giant squid, once believed to be mythical despite occasional sightings by mariners, feed on fish and other squid. Last year, fishermen off the Falkland Islands caught a complete animal measuring 8.62 meters.
Scientists believe giant squid usually live at ocean depths of between 200-700 meters (660-2,300 ft), relying in part on volleyball-sized eyes, the largest in the animal kingdom.
Scientists said giant squid gathered along Australia’s continental shelf in cold mid-winter waters to feed on Grenadier fish. The squid were in turn hunted by sperm whales migrating north from the Southern Ocean.
Japanese ocean researchers captured the first ever pictures of a live giant squid in September 2004 off Japan’s Ogasawara Islands at a depth of 900 meters.Yahoo! News
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Last time i checked, the Colossal squid has the largest eyes in the world…
Looks like the sperm whale won that fight.
No matter if they washed up dead like this specimen or in the videos the Japanese scientists took. The giant squid always fascinates me.