A colossal squid captured late last year — the second intact adult ever caught — was thawed and dissected by scientists in New Zealand on Tuesday.
The colossal squid measures 11 feet long and weighs in at 770 pounds, which is slightly shorter but much heavier than a giant squid. After moving it to a bath and operating table via forklift, the scientists began the dissection — livestreaming the process on YouTube. Roughly 150,000 people from 180 countries tuned in live to watch.
"This is essentially an intact specimen, which is almost an unparalleled opportunity for us to examine," Kat Bolstad, a squid scientist from the Auckland University of Technology,
told The Associated Press. "This is a spectacular opportunity."
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She said the creature was "very big, very beautiful."
Up until now, scientists only knew of the colossal squid species from pieces of its body sometimes found in the belly of its primary predator, the sperm whale. Whales are known to play with their food, and Bolstad said that feeding whales may have fueled ancient myths about the fabled kraken battling with them.
"It may be that we've got a bit of a fisherman's story going on there," she said.
Each of the squid's tentacles are as thick as a firehose, and measure more than 3-feet long. Its eyes measure a foot across — like big dinner plates.
The first colossal squid ever caught was captured in 2007 by the fishing ship San Aspiring, and it is now on display in the Museum of New Zealand, Te Papa Tongarewa. Lightning struck twice for the ship, as it was also the San Aspiring that caught the latest colossal squid. The first catch was a male, and the latest catch is a female. Now that they have one of each sex, scientists will get a very full picture of the species.
"It was partly alive, it was still hanging onto the fish," Capt. John Bennett recalled when they hauled it up onto the boat. "Just a big bulk in the water. They're huge, and the mantle's all filled with water. It's quite an awesome sight."
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