It's A Girl! Scientists Begin Analyzing Giant Squid

By Dee Chisamera
14:12, April 30th 2008
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It's A Girl! Scientists Begin Analyzing Giant Squid

People all over the world have been watching the giant squid from the Te Papa Tongarewa Museum in Wellington, New Zealand, anxiously waiting to discover new things about the rare creature captured last year in the cold waters of the Ross Sea.

As the giant squid has been defrosting for the past three days, scientists gradually began to discover new things about the creature that weights over 1,000 pounds and is 34-feet long.

The examination will be made so as not to alter the squid, which will later be displayed in a tank filled with propylene glycol preservative at the museum.

Scientists uncovered the squid, which is believed to be of medium size, has the largest eyes ever seen in the animal world, measuring around 11 inches across.

“These are without doubt the largest eyes that have ever been studied, and probably among the largest eyes that have existed during the history of the animal kingdom,” Eric Warrant from the University of Lund in Sweden, taking part in the examination, told BBC.

Marine scientists want to keep the squid as intact as possible for display, while trying at the same time to familiarize with it as much as possible.

On a closer examination, the scientists found the ovaries indicating that the specimen is in fact female, not male as they initially assumed, and furthermore, the ovaries were filled with several thousands of eggs. They had hoped for the squid to be a male to find out more about its reproduction.

The squid was also found to be very plastic, as its dimensions obviously reduced post mortem. However, the beak, which is made of hard chitonous material and has 42.5 mm in lenght, remained the same, indicating that the specimen isn’t in fact the biggest one out there (the beaks found in sperm whale stomachs were 49 mm in length).

The study will continue, as scientists try to uncover more details about its way of life and diet by examining the content of its stomach.



Image Credit: http://blog.tepapa.govt.nz/
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