[caption id="attachment_71504" align="aligncenter" width="635"] Elusive Giant Squid Washed Ashore Dead on Cantabria Beach in Spain (Photo : You Tube/ Screenshot/ El Diario Montanes)[/caption]

Giant Squid Lands in Span

Spain's waters washed up more than shells and seaweed earlier this week. A giant squid showed up on La Arena beach astonishing the masses.

Workers had their hands full with the massive animal, weighing in at a whopping 400 pounds and reaching about 30 feet.

Currently, the specimen is being held at Maritime Museum of Cantabria, where experts are working hard to preserve it. The museum currently holds two similar but smaller specimens.

Government officials and museum biologists are deciding whether or not the squid will remain in Santander for exhibition or be relocated elsewhere. They will need to decide relatively quickly; the squid can only remain frozen for 3 months.

The giant squid is the largest invertebrate in the world, with equally large eyes to match. Their eyes can grow to 25 centimeters in diameter. They use these large organs to spot prey in the murky waters of the deep ocean.

In Cephalopods: A World Guide (2000), Norman writes:

"The number of species of giant squid is not known, although the general consensus amongst researchers is that there are at least three species, one in the Atlantic Ocean (Architeuthis dux), one in the Southern Ocean (A. sanctipauli) and at least one in the northern Pacific Ocean (A. martensi)."

[caption id="attachment_71506" align="aligncenter" width="640"] Giant Squid
Photos at the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research - NIWA, Greta Point, Wellington, New Zealand, 20 February 1999 (photo source NASA)[/caption]

In March 2013, researchers at the University of Copenhagen suggested that, based on DNA research, there is probably only one species:

"...researchers at the University of Copenhagen leading an international team, have discovered that no matter where in the world they are found, the fabled animals are so closely related at the genetic level that they represent a single, global population, and thus despite previous statements to the contrary, a single species worldwide."

The giant squid feeds mostly on fish, shrimp and even other squid.

The giant is elusive and has been a mystery to scientists for decades.

According to Science World Report, The first footage of this elusive creature in its natural habitat was captured by a zoologist Tsunemi Kubodera, from Japan's National Science Museum, Tokyo. The video captured the sea monster off the Ogasawara Islands at a depth of 2,066 feet.

"It was shining and so beautiful," team leader Tsunemi Kubodera, a zoologist at Japan's National Museum of Nature and Science, told AFP at the time. "I was so thrilled when I saw it first hand, but I was confident we would because we rigorously researched the areas we might find it, based on past data."

[caption id="attachment_71505" align="aligncenter" width="480"] Beachgoers received a shock earlier this week when a giant squid (not pictured here) washed ashore Spain's La Arena beach.
(Photo : Wikimedia Commons)[/caption]

On The Web:

Elusive Giant Squid Washes Ashore Cantabria Beach in Spain [VIDEO]
http://www.scienceworldreport.com/articles/9969/20131005/elusive-giant-squid-washes-ashore-cantabria-beach-spain-video.htm

Giant Squid Washes Ashore in Spain
http://www.natureworldnews.com/articles/4327/20131004/giant-squid-washes-ashore-spain.htm

Holy calamari! Elusive giant squid washes up on Spanish beach
http://www.nbcnews.com/science/holy-calamari-elusive-giant-squid-washes-spanish-beach-8C11336426

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giant_squid