New Zealand could be the mating ground for the elusive giant squid.
A National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research marine scientist, Dr Steve O'Shea, says it now appears that the squid come to New Zealand waters for breeding purposes.
"Our belief is that Architeuthis [the giant squid] migrates here tobreed and that the juveniles leave New Zealand shores for traditional foraging regions," he said.
"The question then becomes one of how do we track them to these foraging locations ... My view is that we will eventually find that the juveniles leave New Zealand waters, returning several years later to breed."
Dr O'Shea also disputed the popular belief that the squids, popularised in literary epics such as Jules Verne's Twenty Thousand Leagues Under The Sea, were up to 21m long.
He estimates that they have a maximum size of 12m and can weigh 300kg.
For more than a year, New Zealand has been the subject of intense international scientific inquiry.
This stepped up after last year's finding of 23 giant squid, when only 50 had been reported found in the previous 20 years.
No live specimen is known to have been caught, but dead ones have been washed up on beaches or found in fishing nets.
Dr O'Shea said 1999's big catch might not have been out of the ordinary because more specimens were being brought as the fishing industry became increasingly aware of scientific interest in them.
But since 1995 the captures have been recorded only in certain months of the year, which suggests that the squid do not live in New Zealand waters all year round.
Adults appeared off the east coast of the South Island and on the Chatham Rise from December through to early March, and off the West Coast from June to early August.
The data suggested that there were at least two distinct populations or species, Dr O'Shea said.
"It appears to be an animal of the water column, not one that lives on the sea floor.
"Neither does it appear to be a particularly deep-dwelling species, as the average depth at which a total of 80 specimens have been captured is 498m."
Meanwhile, the influx of squid specimens was straining storage space, Dr O'Shea said.
They took up to three days to defrost and required up to 150 hours and 1000 litres of formalin to fix.
He also said that it took "a team of weightlifters" to move them.
