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| Giant Squid Surfaces |
 With eyes the size of dinner plates and razor sharp hook on its tentacles, a colossal squid was hauled in by a New Zealand fishing crew recently.
It took two hours to land the squid, weighing in at 990 pounds and 39 feet long, in Antarctic waters, New Zealand Fisheries Minister Jim Anderton said. The length and weight were estimated by the crew and detailed, official measurements are not yet available. The date of the squid's catch is also not being disclosed. If the weight estimate is right, the squid would be 300 pounds heavier than the next biggest specimen ever found.
The fishermen were catching Patagonian toothfish, popular under the name Chilean sea bass, south of New Zealand. "The squid was eating a hooked toothfish when it was hauled from the deep," Anderton told FOXNews.com.
Known by their scientific name, Mesonychoteuthis hamiltoni, colossal squid are estimated to grow as long as 46 feet are are considered one of the most mysterious creatures of the deep oceans. "I can assure you that this is going to draw phenomenal interest. It is truly amazing," Dr. Steve O'Shea, Auckland University of Technology's squid expert, said, adding that calamari rings, if made from the squid, would be the size of tractor tires.
Maine scientists "will be very interested in this amazing creature as it adds immeasurably to our understanding of the marine environment,' Anderton said. Colossal squid can descend as deep as 6,500 feet and are active, aggressive hunters.
The first colossal squid found, a 330 pound immature female, was caught on the surface in the Ross Sea, off the Antarctic coast, in April 2004.
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