 | Rare giant squid captured
~ NOAA
Sept. 24, 2009 – Only the second one since 1954, a giant squid was captured off the Louisiana coast in the Gulf of Mexico by scientists from NOAA’s Fisheries Service. |
| NOAA scientists examine giant squid captured off the coast of Louisiana. | |
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Sept. 24, 2009 – Only the second one since 1954, a giant squid was captured by scientists from NOAA’s Fisheries Service off the Louisiana coast in the Gulf of Mexico.
In 1954, a giant squid was found floating dead on the surface of water off the Mississippi Delta, according to a NOAA press release.
The squid just captured was found on July 30 during a 60-day expedition when it was caught in a trawl being pulled behind the
Gordon Gunter, a NOAA research ship. The squid was found at a depth of more than 1,500 feet.
"As the trawl net rose out of the water, I could see that we had something big in there…really big,” Anthony Martinez, marine mammal scientist for NOAA's Fisheries Service and chief scientist for this research cruise, said in a NOAA press release. "We knew there was a remote possibility of encountering a giant squid on this cruise, but it was not something we were realistically expecting.”
The giant squid was preserved and sent to the Smithsonian Institution’s
National Museum for Natural History for further study. It measures just over 19.5- feet long and weighs more than 103 pounds.
NOAA - National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration 
