Colossal squid

Mesonychoteuthis hamiltoni compared to a human

The Colossus Squid ( Mesonychoteuthis hamiltoni ) belongs to the gelatinous squid ( Cranchiidae ) and lives in the waters of Antarctica. Its scientific name means "Squid with middle hook ", in allusion to the large claw-shaped Chitinhaken on its tentacles.

Features

The jacket of the Colossus squid is extremely compact and runs relatively abruptly from spindle-shaped. The fins located at the rear portion of the shell are very large and powerful, and show him to be a fast swimmer. The head with enormous eyes runs in eight relatively short tentacles and two thickened at the tips and provided with large claws tentacles. Like all squid, the skin is very thin and delicate, so that it can be easily damaged. Of freshly caught animals whose skin was still largely intact, you still could see that the skin of these animals is colored predominantly dark pink.

About these animals is so far only very little known, since there are only a few specimens that were caught by trawlers. Mesonychoteuthis a colossus among the squid mantle and reaches a length of 2 to possibly 5 m, whereas the giant squid ( Architeuthis ) achieved maximum mantle length of about 2.25 m. This means that they could reach a total length of up to 12 to 14 m along with up to 8 m long tentacles. The eyes are significantly larger than those in the greatest Architeuthis instances with up to 27 centimeters in diameter.

Finds

The species of the Colossus Squid was founded in 1925 first discovered. From fishermen only a few sightings or catches were reported. In April 2004, the first full catch a 150- pound female young animal was reported. The most spectacular catch reported from New Zealand hake fishing on 22 February 2007. Prior to the coast of Antarctica they pulled a 4.2 meter long 495 -kilogram female giant squid from the water that had become entangled in a fishing line for hake. The squid has 27 cm diameter has the largest eyes that have ever been studied. The animal was examined in the New Zealand Te Papa National Museum and preserved in a chemical bath.