SCIENTISTS at Melbourne Museum today dissected a giant squid caught in a fishing net last month live on the internet.

Museum Victoria’s website streamed live video of the dissection from 11.30am (AEST) to 1pm (AEST).

The 245kg 12 metre long squid was caught by the crew of fishing trawler Zeehan off Portland in western Victoria after it became entangled in a net 550m underwater.

Deputy head of science and world renowned squid expert Mark Norman said that the squid would be restitched and put on display after the dissection.

The four-member dissection team, which also included La Trobe University octopus and squid expert Julian Finn, measured, dissected and extracted tissue samples from the squid.

“We’ll be gathering information for studies on how many species of giant squid there are in the world because that still hasn’t been resolved,” Dr Norman said earlier.

“We’ll be looking at stomach contents and eye structure, reproductive state, whether it is male or female and whether it has been mated.”

He said the museum was collaborating with counterparts in California, Japan and the North Atlantic to try to get a handle on the diversity of giant squids in the world.

Dr Norman said he was also well aware of the sensitivities in cutting up the creature, which he said was of almost mythological stature.

“We’ve had one very heartfelt letter from a woman saying she hopes we don’t have a sense of triumphalism,” Dr Norman said.

“We would much prefer this animal was alive and in its environment doing what it does naturally.”

In April a colossal squid, thought to be the largest ever found and captured in a block of giant ice near Antarctica, was defrosted live on webcam.

Four different cameras filmed the 500kg creature as it thawed.

Link: http://museumvictoria.com.au/About/MV-News/2008/Giant-squid-public-dissection-at-Melbourne-Museum/