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HOBART - A giant squid washed up dead on Tasmania's west coast is one of the biggest ever found, weighing in at 250kg, with a cross-section as big as a truck tyre and longer than a station wagon.
Scientists, who see it as an exciting and intriguing discovery, planned to take DNA and tissue samples from the sea monster before transporting it to Hobart for a post-mortem examination.
Tasmanian Museum curator David Pemberton said the 8m-long archotheuthis is one of the biggest ever discovered.
The museum's senior curator of invertebrate zoology, Genefor Walker-Smith, is heading a team of experts investigating the discovery at Ocean Beach, near Strahan.
"It is a whopper," Walker-Smith said. "The main mantle of the squid is about 1m across and its total length is about 8m."
Pemberton said: "In mid-winter they congregate along the Continental Shelf, off Tasmania's west coast, and feed on grenadier fish. The sperm whales then feed on all of them while migrating north from the Southern Ocean."
He said the entire specimen may be preserved to gather information on its biology and that it could be publicly displayed at the museum.
A member of the public made the giant squid discovery on Tuesday night.
* The giant squid may be big but it is dwarfed by New Zealand's biggest aquatic celebrity, a colossal squid caught by New Zealand fishermen on a longline in Antarctic waters in February, which weighed 495kg.
- AAP
