Giant Squid

How do you get two dead Giant Squid the size of a school bus from a fishing boat in Spain to a museum in Washington, DC, USA? Call in the Navy! Find out how Operation Calamari unfolded and how the museum managed to put their new Giant Squid on display. Photo Credit: Glenn Rankin, Smithsonian Institution Download a transcript of this podcast read moreDuration: 3:33Published: Wed, 01 Jun 2011 14:59:18 +0000

Architeuthis dux, largest of the three known species of giant squid, may reach 16 meters (50 feet) and weigh nearly a ton

right image (9393) upper beak, oral view

right image (10509) upper beak, posterior view

Giant Squid NASA

3-D image (9397) of Cephalopod beak - need 3-D glasses to view. upper beak, top view

left image (10488) upper beak, oblique view

This female giant squid, caught in a net by a Spanish fisherman in 2005, is on display in the Smithsonian’s Sant Ocean Hall

right image (10470) lower beak, front view

The Museum's 8.62-metre-long giant squid specimen in its tank in the Darwin Centre.

Recovered off the coast of Spain, this male giant squid is on display at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History.

left image (9402) upper beak, front view

3-D image (10466) of Cephalopoda beak - need 3-D glasses to view. lower beak, oral view

This female giant squid, caught in a net by a Spanish fisherman in 2005, is on display in the Smithsonian’s Sant Ocean Hall

left image (9399) upper beak, oral view

left image (10463) lower beak, oblique view

3-D image (9381) of Cephalopod beak - need 3-D glasses to view. upper beak, side view

right image (10469) lower beak, front view

MOL 1130046 Architeuthis specimen photo 1 Giant Squid image, including NOAA research scientists on board NOAA research vessle, Gordon Gunter. Image by NOAA.

left image (10503) upper beak, front view

right image (9382) upper beak, side view

right image (10507) upper beak, top view