Soccer ball sized..!!

Remind me to never go deep sea diving. I would hate to run into a squid that size. Soccer ball sized eyes sound just plain creepy, but I guess with a squid that size it is not really that large.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ (A New Zealand fishing boat snagged the squid in February 2007, as it sought toothfish in the Antarctic waters of the Ross Sea. The crew hauled in a line with many baited hooks and discovered a massive squid feasting on one of the hooked fish, the museum says on its Web site. ) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ (1) The ocean is a deep and mostly empty blackness where it is possible for all manner of strange and exotic creatures to exist. Some even believe that the megalodon, the great T-Rex of all sharks, might still live down there in the cold silence of the deep seas. The idea here is that sea-dwelling creatures like the squid(2) without bones might keep growing as they keep feeding until they reach massive sizes.(3) In the quiet dark of the sea, the only real enemies a squid has is the sperm whale.(4) A sperm whale hunts the squid by bitting the beast and diving down into the crushing depths even deeper than the squid can survive. On a less serious note, sometimes I think God like to show off. :) :thumbsup: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Various included footnotes: 1) [b][b]Huge squid has world's largest eye, say scientists [/b] - [/b] ( http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/science/04/30/colossal.squid/index.html#cnnSTCText ) 2) Wikipedia:Squid - ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giant_squid ) 3) Wikipedia:Deep Sea Gigantism - ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giant_squid ) 4) Wikipedia:Sperm Whale - ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sperm_Whale ) --------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Icky but cool. Can you imagine one of those suckers staring at you through the submarine window???? I am so looking forward to all the new information they get from studying this squid.

These giant squid live in the deepest part of the ocean where there is very little light. They need to have huge eyes just to detect movement of other creatures living down in the depths. I doubt it they can see anything clearly, but just enought to be able to see if anything is moving. They are incredible creatures and it would not surprise me if there were even bigger ones than this specimen living down there.

Wow- that is really neat! Thanks!