Forget Moby Dick, forget tall Ents, and forget giant mushrooms. A New Zealand Fisheries crew came across the path of a hungry, giant Colossal squid. The Colossal squid (Mesonychoteuthis hamiltoni) was caught when fishermen were catching toothfish at the Ross Sea near Antarctica.

The crew of San Aspiring, the fishing vessel that reeled in the catch, found that the squid was munching on a hooked 30 kilogram toothfish. Way to spoil an appetite, eh?

The squid, while not exactly in the same family as the Giant squid (genus Architeuthis), was measured to be 12 meters long and 450 kilograms in weight. These deep dwelling sea creatures grow from 12 to 14 meters (36 to 42 feet) in length, but one was never studied in the wild. New Zealand Fisheries Minister Jim Anderton said,

The squid was almost dead when it reached the surface, and the careful work of the crew was paramount in getting this specimen aboard in good condition. The crew stopped winching in the longline for two hours, while the squid was maneuvered into a cargo net and hauled aboard.

The squid was frozen for the long haul back to New Zealand. There the squid will be studied and sampled, and remain perfectly preserved for further research.