Trawler hauls in mammoth squid

By Alex Johnson
Updated November 7 2012 - 10:48am, first published May 26 2008 - 12:41pm
This giant squid was caught off Portland. Picture: AAP
This giant squid was caught off Portland. Picture: AAP

A GIANT squid weighing more than 230 kilograms has been hauled from the ocean floor off Portland. A deep-sea fishing trawler brought the mysterious creature to the surface while running its nets over the sea floor, 500 metres below the surface. The 5.5-metre-long squid was dead when the skipper of the Zeehaan, Rangi Pene, discovered it in the trawler's net about 6pm on Sunday, 25 nautical miles south-west of Portland.``We thought, `what the hell's this coming up?','' said Mr Pene, who has been fishing off Portland for about 14 years. ``We couldn't put it down where we put all the rest of our fish and we couldn't put it into the brine tanks because it was just too big.'' The deep-sea discovery came after a 10-metre, 500 kilogram colossal squid was hauled from Antarctic waters in February last year. That squid was defrosted last month in a Wellington museum where it is being studied. Paul McCoy, of Fisheries Victoria's research branch, inspected the squid yesterday. He expected tests would confirm it was a colossal squid which is a sub-species of the giant squid.``It's up there with the biggest,'' he said of the invertebrate which tend to be found every two to three years in south-west waters. He said the squid lived in canyons up to 1000 metres beneath the surface and were generally only caught in trawler nets once they had died and were left exposed on the open sea floor. The squid's two feeding tentacles were found detached.It was otherwise in good condition and is thought to have died recently, Mr McCoy said.The squid have 10 tentacles, two of which are used for feeding and which, if still attached, would have extended the creature's total length to about 8.5 metres, he said. The trawler crew worked feverishly to keep the squid frozen while at sea. When they returned to the wharf yesterday 10 men were needed to lift it. It will be taken to the Melbourne Museum to be dissected by researchers. ``We know more about dinosaurs than we do about these squid,'' Mr McCoy said. ``It's got the largest eyes in the animal kingdom and they've also got a very nasty parrot beak buried among the tentacles and that's what they use to rip their prey apart.''

Subscribe now for unlimited access.

$0/

(min cost $0)

or signup to continue reading

See subscription options

Get the latest Warrnambool news in your inbox

Sign up for our newsletter to stay up to date.

We care about the protection of your data. Read our Privacy Policy.