Divers Find Enormous, Creepy Squid on New Zealand Beach

By Kimberly Hickok, Reference Editor | August 27, 2018 04:33pm ET

Divers visiting New Zealand's south coast of Wellington were looking for a nice spot to go spearfishing Saturday morning (Aug. 25) when they spotted one of the ocean's most impressive creatures of the deep: a dead, but fully intact, giant squid.

"After we went for a dive we went back to [the squid] and got a tape measure out, and it measured 4.2 meters [13 feet] long," one of the divers, Daniel Aplin, told the New Zealand Herald.

A representative from the New Zealand Department of Conservation told the Herald that the divers most likely found a giant squid (Architeuthis dux) and not a colossal squid (Mesonychoteuthis hamiltoni). [Photos of the Stunning Deep-Sea Squid Feeding]

Both species of squid are formidable sea creatures, with giant squid typically reaching 16 feet (5 m) long, according to the Smithsonian, and the colossal squid reaching over 30 feet (10 m) long, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

More:
https://www.livescience.com/63444-mysterious-dead-giant-squid.html