Colossal Squid Caught in Antarctic Waters

by Amanda Katz and David Milner

A colossal squid was recently caught in waters off the coast of Antarctica by members of the crew of a trawler.

The body of the approximately 16-foot-long immature female, only the second member of her species to be retrieved intact, afterward was taken to the Museum of New Zealand for study.

"All we knew prior to this specimen coming through was that this animal lived in the abyssal environment down in Antarctica," Auckland University of Technology senior research fellow Dr. Steve O’Shea told a British Broadcasting Corporation reporter. "Now we know that it is moving...right up to the surface."

The colossal squid is significantly larger and believed to be more ferocious than the more well-known giant squid.

"This animal, armed as it is with the hooks and the beak that it has, not only is colossal in size, but is...a phenomenal predator," said O’Shea. "It’s without parallel in the oceans."

© 2003 Animal News Center, Inc.