A new instance of Mesonychoteuthis hamiltonii, more commonly known as the colossal squid:
A HUGE squid weighing 120 kilograms found off Portland [Australia, not Oregon] last week is believed to be a rare species to south-west waters.
Local fisherman and boat operator Bob McPherson said his investigations pointed to the orange-coloured squid being a colossal type, slightly smaller than a giant squid caught off New Zealand last year.
“It’s a pretty rare species for these waters,” he told The Standard.
“I’ve never seen one as big as this. Its body was about two metres long, one metre wide and weighed 120kg. The unusual thing about it was yellow hooks in its suckers."
Very big squid in the Southern Ocean, hooks in the suckers--I'll back up Bob, that sure sounds like a colossal squid to me. But the thing is, it's actually not that rare. Human sightings of colossal squid may be colossally infrequent, but sperm whales are chowing down on these things.
Colossal squid live throughout the Southern Ocean, so Australia is actually one of the very few places you might expect to see them. It just means this rather arbitrary blue wave needs to be moved north a bit:
Old NID
88791
