In February of 2007, a fishing boat accidentally caught a 1,090-pound Colossal Squid and as a team of scientists at the Museum of New Zealand slowly thaw the giant Squid out, they have discovered it's a female with eyes the size of beach balls.
According to Professor Eric Warrant of the University of Lund in Sweden, if this Colossal Squid were alive, those eyes would measure 40 centimeters across and he describes them as, "about the size of a beach ball."
"These are without doubt the largest eyes that have ever been studied and probably among the largest eyes that have existed during the history of the animal kingdom," he wrote in a blog on the Wellington-based museum's website.
The full measurements of this giant squid will not be known until it is fully thawed, but it was believed to be eight meters (26 feet) or more in length, with two long tentacles that "carry up to 25 rotating hooks each and eight arms each contain up to 19 hooks used to capture prey and bring it to its beaked mouth."
After further examining this creature, which is believed to be "medium sized", scientists have also discovered that it's a girl as evidenced by finding ovaries filled with several thousand eggs.
You can keep up with the discoveries as the scientists from the Te Papa Tongarewa Museum make them at the Museum website.
You can also see more photos of this Colossal Squid here.
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