A rare sight, a giant squid carcass more than 3m washed up on a South African beach

Alison Paulus, a Cape Town resident and founder of wildlife conservation group Volunteer and Discover says: “It was amazing to see it. The giant squid he discovered on the beach on April 30 has a body about 2.2 meters long, while the animal’s tentacles extend to 3.5 meters.”

This squid washed ashore at night with serious injuries, possibly from a collision with a commercial or fishing vessel. Paulus said: “We could see a long wound above the tentacles that we suspect was caused by the ship’s propeller.”

Wildlife experts said the squid was a female, about 2 years old and dead when found.

Giant squid are said to inhabit all of the world’s oceans, but it’s only when one washes ashore that one gets a chance to catch a glimpse of this enigmatic creature. Usually they live at depths from 300m to 1,000m and rarely come to the surface.

For centuries, the only information that science Knowing about this animal comes from studying the stranded or leftover squid in the stomach of sperm whales. It was not until 2004 that they took the first pictures of giant squid alive, according to National Geographic.

The giant squid is among the largest invertebrates on the planet. The giant squid is known to live up to 5 years and reach a length of 43 feet (13 m), but averages 36 feet (11 m), weighs 440 pounds (200kg) and is comparable to the size of a giant squid. bus. Currently, the Iziko South African Museum in Cape Town is keeping the carcasses of 19 giant squid.