If it had been a 769-pound squid I’d never have heard about it.
But fishermen have turned over to scientists a 770-pound colossal squid they caught in Antarctic waters, believed to be only the second intact specimen ever found.
It is a different species from the giant squid which Cheryl Morgan used to write about on the theory that it would boost her blog’s hit count.
Does the colossal squid have that same black magic? I’ll soon know. In any case, researchers are awfully happy with their find:
“This one had two perfect eyes,” scientist Kat Bolstad from Auckland University of Technology who led the examination told AFP.
“They have very large and very delicate eyes because they live in the deep sea. It’s very rare to see an eye in good condition at all.”
Measurements revealed the animal’s eye was 35 centimetres (14 inches) in diameter, and confirmed that the specimen was a female….
“This was by far the most perfect colossal squid that I have seen.”
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Squid blood is a beautiful celestial blue. Knowing the structure of the cyanogloblin responsible for that color is the only reason I passed Macromolecules class back when I was a grad student in biochemistry.
Sandra,
I switched from invertibrate marine biology to accounting becasue I could not pronounce half of what was in the textbooks. 🙂