HOBART, Australia (AP) -- A squid as long as a bus and weighing 550 pounds washed up on an Australian beach, officials said Wednesday. - CNN -------- There is evidence of much larger squid out there. ---- (I admit that the term "bus-size" is mis-leading. While the length may be that of some buses, the circumference isn't that impressive. However, I wouldn't want to be in the water near one.)
How big can a squid get? Estimates based on peices of carcasses found in the belly's of sperm whales range up to one hundred feet. One unconfirmed story, though, suggests they might get even larger. One night during World War II a British Admiralty trawler was lying off the Maldive Islands in the Indian Ocean. One of the crew, A. G. Starkey, was up on deck, alone, fishing, when he saw something in the water:
"As I gazed, fascinated, a circle of green light glowed in my area of illumination. This green unwinking orb I suddenly realized was an eye. The surface of the water undulated with some strange disturbance. Gradually I realized that I was gazing at almost point-black range at a huge squid." Starkey walked the length the of the ship finding the tail at one end and the tentacles at the other. The ship was over one hundred and seventy five feet long. - http://unmuseum.mus.pa.us/squid.htm
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