Tuesday, May 27, 2008

20FT GIANT SQUID CAUGHT BY FISHERMAN


Report from mirror:

Fisherman in Australia got more than they bargained for when they hauled up this 20ft long giant squid from the ocean.

The 500lb squid was already dead when it was caught in the trawler's nets on Sunday night in waters more than 1,640ft deep off the south-eastern coast.

The squid was lifted on to a stretcher by 10 men and placed in a storage freezer in the city of Portland. It will be examined by experts later this week before being given to a museum.

Facts on squids:

- The giant squid remains largely a mystery to scientists despite being the biggest invertebrate on Earth. Their inhospitable deep-sea habitat has made them uniquely difficult to study, and almost everything scientists know about them is from carcasses that have washed up on beaches or been hauled in by fishermen.

- The largest of these elusive giants ever found measured 59 feet (18 metres) in length and weighed nearly a ton (900 kg).

- Squid are among the fastest invertebrates on Earth speeding through the water at up to 24mph.

- Research indicates that squid cannot smell, they have no noses.

- Squid eyes are similar to fish eyes. They have no eyelids but control the amount of light coming into the eye by opening and closing their slitted pupil.

- Ever been told you've got Squid eye? It means your eye is all messed up and people can't tell which way or what you are looking at.

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