DATELINE: 17th August 2001

GIANT SQUID CAUGHT
A 5m-long, 63kg squid was caught by Spanish fishermen off the Azores after it surfaced in an attempt to consume their baits and became entangled in their fishing lines.
Giant squid normally stick to depths of between 200m and 1000m, but are known to approach the surface when food sources present themselves. The recent catch poses the interesting question of whether divers could find themselves face to face with such a creature while diving, say, off an island wall leading down into very deep, oceanic water.
The fishermen froze the squid immediately after catching it and took it back to the Spanish port of Vigo, where the creature was examined before being preserved in formaldehyde. Plans are being made to exhibit it in a museum.
Reportedly only 300 very large squid have been sighted or caught in the past 500 years. The largest recorded catch, about a hundred years ago, was some 18m long and weighed about a tonne.

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