 Large squid caught near Puget Sound
REMERTON, Wash. - At first, Richard Prine thought it was either a giant pair of pants or enough crab bait to last for years. ''It turned out to be a 7.50-foot squid,'' Prine said. ''I didn't know anything like that existed around here.''
The 85-pound squid washed up July 7 on Prine's beach near Lofall on Puget Sound. It apparently had only recently died, since only its tentacles had been nibbled at by other marine life. Prine realized scientists could probably use the find for something better than bait, so he called Suquamish Tribe fisheries biologist Paul Dorn. On his instruction, Prine loaded the cephalopod into his minivan, and he and Dorn packed it in formaldehyde in a 32-gallon bucket.
The squid is now at the University of Washington School of Aquatics and Fisheries Sciences, where collections manager Katherine Pearson said it should be valuable for research.
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Calamari, anyone??? |