Large order of Calamari

Ron Caliburn · Post by **Ron Caliburn** » Wed Jul 11, 2007 9:23 pm

'Whopper' of a giant squid washes up on Australian beach; long as a bus wrote:HOBART, Australia (AP) - A squid as long as a bus and weighing 250 kilograms washed up on an Australian beach, officials said Wednesday.

"It is a whopper," said Genefor Walker-Smith, a zoologist who studies invertebrates at the Tasmanian Museum.

Giant squid live in waters off southern Australia and New Zealand - where a half-tonne colossus, believed to be the world's largest, was caught in February. They attract the sperm whales that feed on them.

The dead squid, measuring a metre across at its widest point and eight metres from the tip of its body to the end of its tentacles, was found early Wednesday by a beachcomber at Ocean Beach on the island state of Tasmania's west coast, the museum said.

The squid was expected to be taken to the museum, where DNA and other scientific tests would be carried out before it is preserved and possibly put on public display.

For anyone thinking of a calamari feast, Walker-Smith said giant squid contain high levels of ammonia in their bodies as a buoyancy aid.

"It would not taste very nice at all," she said.

New Zealand fishermen netted a 500-kilogram, 10-metre-long squid in the Southern Ocean in February. It is widely believed to be the largest specimen of the rare and mysterious deep-water species Mesonychoteuthis hamiltoni, or colossal squid, ever caught.

Experts believe the creatures, which have long been one of the most mysterious denizens of the deep ocean, may grow even bigger - up to 14 metres long.

GhostSpider · Post by **GhostSpider** » Wed Jul 11, 2007 11:53 pm

Awesome.

Kolya · Post by **Kolya** » Thu Jul 12, 2007 12:09 am

Squid stories are pretty much never boring.

GhostSpider · Post by **GhostSpider** » Thu Jul 12, 2007 12:17 am

Especially when they're of the giant variety. :wink:

Kolya · Post by **Kolya** » Thu Jul 12, 2007 12:21 am

Yes, that is true.

Ron Caliburn · Post by **Ron Caliburn** » Thu Jul 12, 2007 9:12 pm

I think the Giant Squid is the one shining cause in cryptozoology - if a creature like that can be scieintifically prooven to exist, then a lot of the other mythical beasts may be only one scientist in the right place and time away from becoming fact.

Kolya · Post by **Kolya** » Thu Jul 12, 2007 9:14 pm

Like the coelacanth.

Megamouth too.

Ron Caliburn · Post by **Ron Caliburn** » Thu Jul 12, 2007 9:37 pm

They don't have the star power of Giant Squid.

Kolya · Post by **Kolya** » Thu Jul 12, 2007 10:49 pm

Natasha · Post by **Natasha** » Mon Jul 16, 2007 12:36 am

Well not a lot would.

Shadowstalker · Post by **Shadowstalker** » Mon Jul 16, 2007 3:51 am

A honest to God Sea Serpent would, I think.

Natasha · Post by **Natasha** » Mon Jul 16, 2007 12:49 pm

Yea, then there's that.
Thanks Mr. Obvious

Kolya · Post by **Kolya** » Mon Jul 16, 2007 1:30 pm

I still want to find a giant yeti that eats giant frogs.

Natasha · Post by **Natasha** » Mon Jul 16, 2007 7:16 pm

Is giant squid still the kracken?

Shadowstalker · Post by **Shadowstalker** » Mon Jul 16, 2007 7:18 pm

I think so.

Natasha · Post by **Natasha** » Mon Jul 16, 2007 7:18 pm

Ron Caliburn · Post by **Ron Caliburn** » Mon Jul 16, 2007 7:30 pm

Kraken is apparently an individual - though the Collasal Squid might certainly be the inspiration

Natasha · Post by **Natasha** » Mon Jul 16, 2007 7:34 pm

I think this is one of the problems of cryptozoology: common language/defnitions.