One of the most unique catches has been hoisted aboard a fishing vessel in the Antarctic Ross Sea. The crew pulled a creature out of the water with tentacles like water cannons and saucer eyes.
Captain John Bennett and his crew were stunned when they saw a giant squid weighing 350 kilograms and the size of a minibus. The creature was raised from almost two kilometers depth. The squid is a female and each of its eight tentacles is more than a meter long. Two of them, as noted by researchers from New Zealand, may have been twice as large, but were damaged.
Kat Bolstad of Auckland University of Technology, who leads the team studying the creature, described it as a "very large and very beautiful" underwater creature.
“This is essentially an intact sample, which gives us an unprecedented opportunity to study it,” she said.
In the entire history, this is only the second intact sample that fell into the hands of scientists.
“We were very pleased to find that it was a female with several eggs in it, Bolstad told reporters. "This is by far the largest squid I've ever seen."
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Giant squids are often described by sailors in their fantastic stories, but it is extremely rare to see them. It is noteworthy that Bennett and his team have already caught two of them. Their first giant squid was taken to the National Museum of New Zealand in Te Papa seven years ago, where it remains to this day as an exhibit.
Scientists hope to learn more about the creature's place in the food chain, how many genetic variations there are among different types of squid, and basic facts about how huge animals live and die, according to the museum's senior curator.
After the squid is studied in detail by scientists, it will be displayed for everyone to see.