A giant squid that surprised tourists on the coast of New Zealand

Excursion participants to Golden Bay – Mohua Beach in the South Island (New Zealand) and their guide, Anton Donaldson of Farewell Spit Tours, will remember their visit on September 9 this year for a monumental discovery. .

Stranded in the sand and half-covered, tourists and a guide discovered the remains of a giant squid last week. Architeuthisundetermined species) counting the tentacles and may have reached a length of more than 4 m.

Exact measurements could not be taken because the remains of this deep-sea cephalopod were partially dismembered and probably eaten by fish.

Some media attributed the pattern to race Doge Architeuthis But, in general, and despite the scientific controversy about the taxonomy of this species, precisely a.dux This refers to jumbo squids from the Atlantic Ocean and thus unlikely to be found in New Zealand.

Giant squid, of which up to eight different species are listed (taxonomy is under discussion, we emphasize) live and feed in deep water, so human observation is extremely rare. In most cases, detected specimens of these species correspond to accidental captures, fishing gear in search of other species, or stranding or natural death as in the case of the Golden Bay Giant.

This is not the first time a squid of this species has been found on New Zealand beaches, in fact the same tour company, Farewell Spit Tours, maintains an image on its website of a similar, albeit smaller, specimen found in 2019. , according to Farewell Spit Tours, at least six dead giant squid have washed ashore on Gold Bay Nature Reserve beaches in the past 30 years.

“Finding something different like a giant squid is special and exciting, but at the same time, we feel a certain sadness for such a creature. A wonderful example of a large marine creature that lives on the bottom of the sea, unfortunately died. On a beach … “, Anton Donaldson explained in the collected reports. New Zealand Herald.

“It appeared [los tentáculos] They were chewed up by small sharks or other marine creatures like fish,” Donaldson said. “Although I’m not sure, I imagine it floated for a period of time and dissolved on the beach. .”