Giant Squid washes up on Australian Beach

[Denise]

CANBERRA (Reuters) - 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.

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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.

[Denise]

more pictures:

[Nan]

Aren't we all lucky that we are only seeing the pictures and not inhaling the whiffs!!!!

[Denise]

Quote:

Aren't we all lucky that we are only seeing the pictures and not inhaling the whiffs!!!!

Yes!!! It would probably have an awful smell!!

[Planey]

To pinch the title of a song:

• I can only imagine...

[Woody]

A lot of strange things happen in Australia it seems. Am I all washed up?

[Nan]

A lot of strange things happen in Australia it seems. Am I all washed up?

You might be if you are not careful about what you say about us :R

[Woody]

Thanks for the warning. I will try to watch my 'P's and 'Q's when I'm around you blokes.

[Planey]

Be careful already.

Nan is not a bloke.

(More correctly she is a sheila.)

[Woody]

Oh. I'm sorry. It has been awhile since I used that kind of language. Perhaps I have forgotten what a "bloke" is. You mean that not all Australians are blokes? Can you remind me what it means?

[Nan]

I cannot think of any occasion when "bloke" refers to females of the Homa sapiens species. And conversely, it would be grossly insulting to call any bloke a sheila.

It is not quite as generic a term as "You guys" seems to be. I have and do use that when referring to females. :)

[Bravus]

I was wondering whether, if I brought the giant squid to my place, he would wash up here too: I'm too tired to clear up after dinner.

[Nan]

I would have thought you could have him for dinner, there would not be much washing up then, just tuck right in.