Gigantic Architeuthis Specimen Found in Australia, page 1

posted on Jul, 11 2007 @ 07:45 AM

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CANBERRA (Reuters) - One of the largest giant squid ever found has washed up on a remote Australian beach, sparking a race against time by scientists to examine the rarely seen deep-ocean creature.

The squid, the mantle or main body of which measured two-meters (6.5 feet) long, was found by a walker late on Tuesday on Ocean Beach, near Strahan, on the western coast of island state Tasmania.

"It's a whopper," Tasmanian Museum senior curator Genefor Walker-Smith told local media on Wednesday. "The main mantle is about one meter across and its total length is about eight meters."

Reuters

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Wow, this certainly seems like a big one. Posted in Science since this certainly isn't a cryptid anymore!

testrat

posted on Jul, 11 2007 @ 10:12 AM

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I wonder if they identified it wrong and it is the Colossal squid not the giant.

funky monk

posted on Jul, 12 2007 @ 03:58 AM

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Originally posted by testrat
I wonder if they identified it wrong and it is the Colossal squid not the giant.

Not too sure, but I am sure that time will tell.
Oh well.. looks pretty impressive though.

-fm

Obliv_au

posted on Jul, 16 2007 @ 04:15 AM

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its on NineMSN.com.au aswell but they claim it to be 8m long and missing sex organs.

how cool is it eh? the thing is massive, you could make a calamari ring the size of a car tyre although it would probably be just as chewy

i love it when stuff like this washes up, its hard core proof that theres creatures in the deepest depths of our ocean which we know almost nothing about

The 8m-long squid is currently being kept in an industrial-sized freezer while tissue tests are done to determine its age and sex.

Scientists found the squid with missing sex organs on Wednesday afternoon at Ocean Beach, near Strahan in Tasmania.

*SNIP*
Ms Walker-Smith said with the missing sex organs, it might be difficult to determine the sex of the squid.

''It could take a couple of weeks before we know how old it is. It's so rare for a giant squid to wash up on the beach, and we've had so few specimens to examine the relation between size and age.''

proteus33

posted on Jul, 16 2007 @ 12:15 PM

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the only trouble with making caliamari is how do you get rid of the ammonia flavor