Fisherman catches 20ft giant squid

Australian fishermen have hauled up a 20ft long giant squid from the ocean off Australia’s south-eastern coast.

Skipper Rangi Pene says the 500lb squid was already dead when it was caught in the trawler’s nets on Sunday night in waters more than 1,640ft deep.

Paul McCoy, a fisheries research biologist, said it took 10 men to lift the squid on to a stretcher and place it in a storage freezer in the city of Portland. Museum Victoria will collect the squid this week.

McCoy said today that analysis by the museum would determine the type of squid, its age and possibly how it died.