MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Giant 500 pounds squid netted off Australia

A giant 500 pound squid was hauled off the coast of Victoria (Australia) yesterday. Fishing trawler skipper Mr Rang Pene winched up his catch from the ocean floor to find a large mass halfway down the net.

The trawler, Zeehaan, was fishing about 40km off the coast of Portland in Victoria's west, when it netted the squid on Sunday night in waters more than 500 metres deep. Paul McCoy, a Fisheries Research Biologist with Victoria's Department of Primary Industries, said it took 10 men to lift the squid onto a stretcher and place it in the freezer, where it will be frozen until a representative from Museum Victoria collects the specimen this week. Mr McCoy said analysis by the museum would determine the type of squid, its age and, possibly, how it died. He said the squid was already dead when it was caught. It's the third giant squid Mr McCoy has seen in 15 years. The find comes more than a year after New Zealand trawler skipper John Bennett caught what is believed to be the world's largest squid during an Antarctic fishing trip. Scientists in New Zealand last month defrosted the 495kg colossal squid and determined it was 4.2 metres long, much shorter than earlier predictions of eight to 10 metres.