A 19.5-foot giant squid caught in the Gulf of Mexico (photo)

September 23, 2009

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On July 30, 2009, a 19.5-foot (5.94-metre) giant squid, hauled up in a trawl (seen in the photo), had been pulled 1,500 feet below the surface off the Louisiana coast in the Gulf of Mexico on the NOAA research vessel Gordon Gunter.

Pictures released on Sept. 21 were provided to media by the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration.

Anthony Martinez of NOAA Fisheries Service, a marine mammal specialist, was lead scientist on the research cruise. Other members of the research team (seen in the picture) were Melody Baran of the NOAA Fisheries Service, Jessi Wicker of NOAA and the University of Miami, Keith Mullen of NOAA Fisheries Service, Alyson Azzara of Southern Mississippi University, and Kevin Barry of NOAA Fisheries Service.

It's the first giant squid ever caught in the gulf - the only other taken from those waters was found dead and floating in 1954. Scientists were making practice trawls for a study planned in January of sperm whales, which eat giant squid, and the food available to them.