Te Papa is New Zealand's national museum, and attempts to give an overview of the nations art, history, peoples, and wildlife. Among the wildlife that Te Papa currently displays is the worlds only preserved colossal squid specimen.

The San Aspiring, a New Zealand fishing boat, caught the colossal squid in February 2007.

"The crew were fishing with longlines – single lines with many baited hooks – for a large species of fish, the Antarctic toothfish. But on one line they caught more than they bargained for! There was a toothfish on the line, but eating the fish was a colossal squid – nearly 500 kg of it.

It was only just alive, and the crew thought it would almost certainly die if they released it. They lowered a cargo net, manoeuvred the squid into it, and managed to get it on board and into the ship’s freezer."

The colossal squid is now believed to be the largest squid species in the world. Larger and heavier then a giant squid, equipped with limbs covered in teeth and hooks, a gigantic razor sharp beak, and the largest eyes in the world, the colossal squid goes to show that "sea monsters" may exist after all.

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