Giant squid grabs London audience (BBC)

By Rebecca Morelle
BBC News science reporter

Squid on show
One of the biggest and most complete giant squids ever found is on display at London's Natural History Museum.

Measuring a monstrous 8.62m (28ft), the animal was caught off the coast of the Falkland Islands by a trawler.
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Giant squid, once thought to be sea serpents, are very rarely seen and live at depths of 200-1,000m (650-3,300ft).
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"Most giant squid tend to be washed up dead on beaches, or retrieved from the stomach of sperm whales, so they tend to be in quite poor condition," explained Jon Ablett, the mollusc curator at the Natural History Museum who led preservation efforts.
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more at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/4756514.stm

comment: Claims about length and weight of large squid should be greeted with a large dose of skepticism. The "largest ever" quoted here is certainly suspect. See the fact sheet at tonmo.com, compiled by Dr. Steve O'Shea: http://www.tonmo.com/science/public/giantsquidfacts.php WARNING: These people are obsessed with cephalods! Recommended viewing for anyone who thinks DU is full of obsessive/compulsive types.


Figure 3. A submature female colossal squid, Mesonychoteuthis hamiltoni.

that's a pretty big range. they then cite a larger one, classified by weight. So I think it's fine.

frankly, any fairly complete Architeuthis dux is impressive (I saw a smaller, less complete one in a Smithsonian travelling exhibition a while back) And, for the record, the picture you link from O'Shea is of Mesonychoteuthis hamiltoni the Colassal Squid, not Architeuthis.

Wonder how large the brain on that thing is? Probably quite large, from what I've read of squids.

How long do squids this size live? Over a decade or two?

Most squid grow quickly and die within a few years.

That baby must stink!