ENTERTAINMENT

Researchers dissect ‘perfect’ colossal squid that is as long as a minibus

One of the sea’s most elusive species, it had been frozen for eight months until today, when scientists in New Zealand got a long-anticipated chance to thaw out the animal
18 Sep 2014 01:05

One of the sea’s most elusive species, it had been frozen for eight months until today, when scientists in New Zealand got a long-anticipated chance to thaw out the animal and inspect it — once they used a forklift to maneuver it into a tank.

The squid is a female, and its eight arms are each well over a metre (3.3 feet) long.

Its two tentacles would have been perhaps double that length if they had not been damaged.

Kat Bolstad, a squid scientist from the Auckland University of Technology who was leading a team examining the creature, described it as ‘very big, very beautiful.’

“This is essentially an intact specimen, which is almost an unparalleled opportunity for us to examine,” she said.

“This is a spectacular opportunity.”

Only the second intact specimen ever found was carrying eggs when discovered in the Antarctic.

“We were excited to find that out… as it turns out this one is a female, and it has got some eggs,” Miss Bolstad told reporters. “This was by far the most perfect colossal squid that I have seen.”

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