Local fisherman and boat operator Bob McPherson said his investigations pointed to the orange-coloured squid being a colossal type, slightly smaller than a giant squid caught off New Zealand last year.

“It’s a pretty rare species for these waters,” he told The Standard.

“I’ve never seen one as big as this. Its body was about two metres long, one metre wide and weighed 120kg.

“The unusual thing about it was yellow hooks in its suckers.

“It was dead, floating in the water when we found it off Portland while fishing for tuna in 700-metre-deep water. The tentacles are shorter than those on a giant squid.”

Meanwhile, an international joint-venture marine research team is doing sonar tests along the Portland coast counting whales.

Mr McPherson said he understood the team would head south to Antarctica after completing its south-west work.