Holy Calamari!

Fishermen hauled up a 990 pound Colossal Squid off the coast of Antarctica while fishing for Chilean Sea Bass. It is the largest specimen ever captured.

As a comparison to how big this squid is, here is a photo of the fishermen at this past year’s White Marlin Open standing next to a 737 Pound Blue Marlin that won them 660 Thousand dollars.

From Reuters here:

WELLINGTON (Reuters) – New Zealand fishermen may have caught the largest Colossal squid ever found — weighing around 450kg (992 pounds) and with rings the size of tires.

The adult Colossal squid (Mesonychoteuthis hamiltoni) was caught by fishermen long lining for toothfish in deep ocean off Antarctica. The squid was still alive when caught and was eating a hooked toothfish when hauled aboard.

The squid was frozen in the ship’s hull and brought back to New Zealand for scientific examination.

Colossal squid are one of the most mysterious creatures in the deep ocean, growing up to 12 to 14 meters (36 to 42 feet) in length. Anderton said the squid would be photographed, measured, tissue sampled, registered and preserved intact.

O’Shea said if calamari were made from the Colossal squid’s rings it would be the size of tractor tires.

Colossal Squid are bigger than Giant Squid.