Giant squid heads for Natural History Museum in London

[eppur_se_muova]

While the Falklands Government and International Fishing Companies bemoan the current lack of commercial squid in the Falklands Economic Zone, considerable excitement has been created in the Islands by the catching of a 'giant' squid weighing 200 kilos.

The 'giant' squid, which is of the Architeuthis dux species has a mantle length of 2.7 meters and an overall length of 10 meters, and was caught during a regular trawl by the Fishing Vessel 'John Cheek' which is owned by the Fortuna Fishing Company of Stanley and which has a licence to catch fin fish in the Falklands Zone'. The ship is named after a founder member of the Company, the late Councillor, John Cheek who died several years ago.

The Falklands Fisheries Department's Senior Fisheries Scientist, Russian born Dr. Alexander Arkhipin told MercoPress that the 'John Cheek' was trawling for Hoki (Whiptail hake) about 30 miles South West of Weddell Island, off West Falklands, when the discovery was made on 5 March. The 'giant' squid was immediately put in cold storage. Dr. Arkhipin said that it is quite common for squid of this species to grow to a mantle length of 5 meters and an overall length of 20 meters.
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Dr. Arkhipin said that this type of squid normally provides a regular food supply for Sperm Whales and is not commercially caught, unlike the Loligo and Illex species. He said, 'I would not advise that this 'giant' squid be used for human consumption as the flesh contains a high level of ammonia. It is unique to find a squid of this size in such good condition, and accordingly we are planning to send it to the Natural History Museum in London'.
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more at: http://www.falkland-malvinas.com/Detalle.asp?NUM=3536

NOTE: 200 kg ~ 440 lbs

[InvisibleTouch]

1. Makes me think of Richard Dawkins' parody...

...that God created the Earth for the benefit of the giant squid, not mankind. After all, there's far more ocean than land surface, and in the squid's realm, everything humans have built is pretty much irrelevant.

This particular one wasn't so lucky, of course.

[Poll_Blind]

2. Dr. Arkhipin's wrong: Architeuthis Dux mantles are rarely larger than 2.5M

It's the newly-discovered Colossal Squid (Mesonychoteuthis Hamiltoni) which can attain mantle lengths close to 5M (and possibly over). A 5M mantle makes for a huge cephalopod, even without the tentacles (just the arms).

PB

[eppur_se_muova]

3. These wild exggerations are, unfortunately, common.

And it seems the wilder they are, the more likely they are to make it into the media. One expert viewing the photo of this specimen said it's probably more like 2 m.

Shortly before this I posted a link where they mentioned 1000 kg as the maximum weight. That's the kind of over-the-top claims that serious teuthologists have to deal with.