Divers visiting New Zealand’s south coast of Wellington were looking for a nice spot to go spearfishing Saturday morning (Aug. 25)
![](https://worldnewsroom.info/eng/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/20000_squid_holding_sailor.jpeg)
when they spotted one of the ocean’s most impressive creatures of the deep: a dead, but fully intact, giant squid.
![](https://worldnewsroom.info/eng/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/carcass-giant-squid-creature-England-Plymouth-Biologists.jpeg)
“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.
![](https://worldnewsroom.info/eng/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Architeuthis_princeps_image_modified.png)
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).
![](https://worldnewsroom.info/eng/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Architeuthis_distribution.png)
Both species of squid are formidable sea creatures, with giant squid typically reaching 16 feet (5 m) long, according to the Smithsonian,
![](https://worldnewsroom.info/eng/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Architeuthis_dissection_1854-full_1.jpeg)
and the colossal squid reaching over 30 feet (10 m) long, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
![](https://worldnewsroom.info/eng/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Alecton_giant_squid_1861.png)
Scientists know very little about these deep-sea-dwelling species, because the animals are so rarely seen.
![](https://worldnewsroom.info/eng/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/A_piece_of_sperm_whale_skin_with_Giant_Squid_sucker_scars.jpeg)
Most observations come from the occasional specimen washing ashore, as in this case, or getting accidently captured by fishers.
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The enormous tentacled creature’s cause of death is unknown.
![](https://worldnewsroom.info/eng/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Display_of_sperm_whale_and_giant_squid_battling_in_the_Museum_of_Natural_History.jpeg)
Aplin told the Herald that the squid appeared unscathed except for a scratch that was so tiny that the diver “wouldn’t think that’s what killed it.”
![](https://worldnewsroom.info/eng/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/D1000079-full_1.jpeg)
When the divers checked thesquid out again after their dive, they thought it had shrunk a little, but no animals had decided to make a meal out of the dead beast, Aplin said.
![](https://worldnewsroom.info/eng/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/D1000074-scaled_1.jpeg)
He called a friend from New Zealand’s National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA) who arranged for the squid to be collected, the Herald reported.
![](https://worldnewsroom.info/eng/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/D1000046-full_1.jpeg)
Aplin is an employee of Ocean Hunter Spearfishing & Freediving Specialists, and posted his photos of the giant squid on the company’s Facebook page, which elicited a wealth of commentary.
![](https://worldnewsroom.info/eng/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/D1000026-full_1.jpeg)
“Imagine that swimming past!” wrote one commenter. “Who’s up for calamari?” wrote another.
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Ref: Wikipedia, smithsonianmag, ocean, nationalgeographic, britannica, businessinsider, livesciencePic: Wikipedia, WayneFlorence, ocean, britannica, pinterest
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