Giant squid defrosted in New Zealand: 28-04-2008
Scientists in New Zealand have begun an attempt to defrost a rare colossal squid that has been 'on ice' since it was caught in Antarctic waters in February last year.
Weighing about 495 kilograms and measuring nearly ten metres in length, the squid is of a kind that lives deep in the Southern Oceans and is virtually unknown to science.
Scientists put the squid in a deep freeze so they could develop a plan to dissect it but defrosting it is proving quite tricky.
"It's mostly guesswork - we want it neither cooked nor rotted," Steve O'Shea, New Zealand's leading squid expert told the DPA.
Once the squid has been defrosted and examined it will be embalmed.