The colossal squid on board the San Aspiring with skipper John Bennett.
Credit: New Zealand Government
SYDNEY: Fishermen have pulled in a 10-metre colossal squid weighing nearly half a tonne from the frigid waters south of New Zealand.
"It's phenomenal," said Steve O'Shea, a squid expert at the Auckland Institute of Technology on New Zealand's North Island. "We have accounts that [the squid weighs] 450 kg … which would make this the heaviest squid ever recorded."
It's believed that the squid is a male - never before described, according to O'Shea. "Sexing squid is very difficult … but male squid are usually half to three-quarters the size of female squid. If this is a male," he explained, "it means we've got an even larger female out there."
Colossal squid (Mesonychoteuthis hamiltoni) are not to be confused with the giant squid (Architeuthis dux), said O'Shea. "The giant squid is just a scaled-up version of the common arrow [shaped] squid - the calamari that everyone would eat." He explained. "It's a very slender squid, and we've looked at about 130 of these, with a maximum weight of 275 kilograms."
However, said O'Shea, the colossal squid - native to Antarctic waters - is a very heavy, short and stocky animal, with a huge spherical mantle and two enormous muscular fins that propel the animal through the water.
Giant squid have eyes that can be as big as soccer balls, but according to O'Shea, it's thought that the eyes of colossal squid could reach half a metre in diameter - making them by far the largest in the animal kingdom. "It's enormous," he said. "A completely different animal to the giant squid."
Both the giant and collosal squid have eight arms and two longer tentacles. But while the appendages of giant squid have rows of simple suction cups down their length, the colossal squid's suckers are armed with swivelling hooks.
Only a handful of the enigmatic animals have been caught, and the 10 metre-long specimen announced yesterday is thought to be the first intact adult specimen of the species.
The fishing vessel San Aspiring, owned by New Zealand's Sanford seafood company, was trolling for Patagonian toothfish - better known by their commercial name of Chilean sea bass - when it snagged the near half-tonne cephalopod. "The squid was almost dead when it reached the surface," said New Zealand Fisheries Minister Jim Anderton, and it was actually eating a toothfish when it was pulled aboard.
The squid, now frozen, will be transported to New Zealand's national museum, Te Papa, in the capital city of Wellington. "[It] will be photographed, measured, tissue sampled, registered and preserved intact in the Natural Environment collection. On-going examination of this giant will help to unlock some of the mysteries of the deep ocean," said Anderton. "Even basic questions such as how large does this species grow to, and how long does it live for, are not yet known."
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Why can't people leave these magnificent beings alone
Why not catch and release - may be one of the last ones left
A true scientist does not kill an animal to study it
Scientist?
Who said these guys were scientists?
According to the article they were fishermen. And they probably had no idea what was on their line until they got it to the surface.
Besides which, what evidence do you have that this species is any less populous than it's ever been?
i live in new zealand
hey wowzers yuumy and tuna are endangered to
Nuh uh
Tuna isn't "endangered". It's "in danger"; in danger of winding up on my sammich or as cat poop in Fluffy's litter box. Poop either way.
Why can't people leave these magnificent beings alone
why il tell u why .Imagine how much ud get for selling it =)
Why can't people leave these magnificent beings alone
Did you not read the article closely? The squid was almost dead when brought to the surface. Would it have survived if released? I've seen fisherman release countless fish only to have them die shortly after release. Be real.
The colossal squid is NOT an
The colossal squid is NOT an endangered or even threatened species, in fact we don't even know how many their are or even where they typically live. Second of all it was almost dead when they caught it anyway and it would be of great scientific interest, (i myself am studying Cephalopods) and could tell us an massive number of things about the sea. It is also to my knowledge only the fourth specimen ever captured.
Because.
The damned thing was almost dead when they caught it, so why would they let it go? So it could swim for another 5 minutes before it died?
The Squid was accidentally
The Squid was accidentally caught and it was already dead from the tempurture change. They dont sell it they study it.
it wasint almost dead...they
it wasint almost dead...they knew it wasint a fish that they had caught from the weight so they could have relesed it far before it got near the surface...and they did sell it