Mark Fenwick and Kat Bolstad are in the tank carefully cutting the landing net away from the thawing squid. Fortunately the squid is still partially frozen and is floating, which makes the task much easier.
The beak of the colossal squid has been exposed as the flesh thaws. Preliminary measurement of the lower beak rostral length on the smaller specimen is 42 mm; the lower beak rostral length on the larger specimen is about 43-45 mm.
We know that the beaks of this species attain lower beak rostral lengths of 49 mm . . . . therefore, this animal likely gets much, much bigger - really, really big in fact!
The ‘smaller’ specimen is approximately half the size of the larger specimen in terms of weight, but the beak is only 3-4 mm smaller than the large specimen. The largest beaks known are at least 5 mm bigger than the larger specimen. . . . can we assume that this species reaches three quarters of a tonne in weight???
