Giant Squid Washed Up in Tasmania

Strahan, Tasmania, Australia - July 12, 2007 - A giant squid has washed up near Strahan on Tasmania's west coast.

The squid, measuring about six metres long, was found last night on Ocean Beach by a member of the public.

Zoology experts from the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery are hoping to examine the squid to find how old it was and how it died.

The museum's senior curator of Antarctic and Southern Oceans, David Pemberton, says it is known that squid live off the west coast and feed on blue grenadier.

"The only strandings on beaches we ever had were in the east and south-east of Tassie and to me this one's intriguing because it's turned up on our west coast," he said.

"We must bear in mind that all of this is to do with the Southern Ocean and perhaps to a giant squid, there's not much difference.

"It's the first record that I know of one on a beach off the west coast."

Giant Squid Tasmania

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