Taste of giant squid in name of research

What's the length of a bus, the weight of a young cow and tastes like sashimi?

The answer - one of a pair of colossal squid being defrosted by a team of scientists at Te Papa.

Squid experts had a taste yesterday of one of the colossal squid found in Antarctic waters.

It is the smaller of the two beasts, the other of which has drawn global attention, weighing in at nearly half a tonne.

Scientists have posted comments on Te Papa's website in response to queries from curious New Zealanders. Several have been about the smell in the room where the animals lie in a 6 degrees celsius water tank.

"Surprisingly the smell is not bad at all," one scientist said. "It smells a bit like a clean fish shop."

He went on to say: "The scientists here, and I think a TV interviewer, had a wee taste of the smaller, damaged colossal squid specimen. They assure me it tasted like sashimi!"

The smaller squid was found in a damaged state in Antarctic waters this year. The bigger, 495-kilogram animal, the largest specimen of its kind, was hauled from the depths of the Ross Sea by the fishing ship San Aspiring last year.

Up to 10 scientists and Te Papa staff are involved in the defrosting process, which began on Monday. The squid is expected to be fully thawed between 10am and 2pm today.

Te Papa natural environment director Carol Diebel said the squid was defrosting nicely. Its sex would be known today. "Its tentacles are starting to curl off so we can see them ... it's the big body that's still frozen."

The animal may be bigger than the original estimate of six to eight metres. Marine biologist Steve O'Shea said scientists had found beaks of other colossal squids in the stomachs of sperm whales. The beaks came from considerably bigger squid.

Dr O'Shea said not enough was known about the species to say how big they could grow.

The squid will be examined and fixed in a formalin solution for up to four weeks before being placed in a purpose-built tank for display at the museum later this year.

- © Fairfax NZ News