This story today 12-21 in Taiwan news paper Chinatime
of a giant squid captured. Please check it out.

http://photo.chinatimes.com/photofile/newsweb/today.htm

story translation:
Giant Sea Monster
a 6 meters length giant squid appeared at
TongGoangfish market(東港). Visiting
kindergarten children all had their mouth wide open.
For the whole day, Skiper Mr. HongJehShan and machanic
HongShihCheng were telling their story of fighting the
sea monster.

Fanstastic!

I was going to comment on the immense mantle-length based on the number of people lined-up behind, then noticed how far back they were standing and how tiny most of them were.:wink:

It appears close to 6 feet/ 1.80 meters, still pretty big in my book. I wonder whether that's rope tied around it, or that it was cut into sections and reconstructed for the photograph...

Is it a Giant Squid, or just a Giant Squid (Big squid of some different species)

Outside of a good postmortem being the most fun, DNA analysis is really the easiest clencher. By the looks of it this is Architeuthis; size and morphology seem to match well. We're missing some vital bits of info, however, such as the shape of the caudal fins, the morphology of the suckers etc. I'd put my money on it, but then I'm slightly intoxicated, following our annual company Christmas booze-up :smile:

I found more news on ETTODAY.com
http://tw.news.yahoo.com/article/url/d/a/061220/17/89aj.html

This squid weights 211 kilo(470lb), circumference 1.5 meter, body length 3 meter.
It was caught 2 months ago in the Pacific Ocean about 900 nautical miles NW of Midway(35d30m lat, 168d20m long)
It was caught with a fishing spear when fisherman saw it surfaced water. It stayed in the freezer for 2 months.
It was sold for about $530 USD at the fish market.
Researcher marine biologist Mr. CC Wu of Taiwan Dept of Fish and Game identiied it as a giant squid.
He said the squid's body muscle contain much amonia. Not good eating. :lol:

Unfortunately Dr. Steve O'Shea is on vacation until Jan 11th (although fortunate for him!)... he'd be enjoying this news for sure (perhaps he is).

Did someone buy it to eat?

Architeuthis is inedible to the extreme of being repulsive: its ammonia content (for natural buoancy) is such, that consumption as food is absolutely out of the question. I hope it found its way into a museum.