Photo excites marine scientists on trail of giant squid

An underwater photo taken in New Zealand waters may be the first glimpse by humans of the egg mass of the elusive giant squid.

Marine biologist Dr Steve O'Shea said a photograph of a gelatinous sphere, 2m in diameter, in the waters off Northland's Poor Knights Islands was the first visual evidence of such an egg mass he had seen.

"It's the first photo of such a squid egg mass known, from New Zealand waters at least."

Dr O'Shea, of the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (Niwa), is an expert on giant squid. He had just finished work on the world's largest invertebrate for a Discovery documentary that screened recently: Chasing Giants: On the Trail of the Giant Squid.

His attention was drawn to the photo, taken by photojournalist Jan Enderby, on the website of marine researcher Wade Doak, of Tutukaka in Northland. He promptly notified the Discovery channel of the photo.

Mr Doak said they had originally thought the sphere was a salp -- a large jellyfish -- though it did not have all the salp's characteristics. He heard Dr O'Shea being interviewed on radio, put two and two together and contacted him.

"Of all the things left on the earth the giant squid is the Holy Grail," Mr Doak said this week.

"We know it exists but can't get to it. Next to the dinosaur it must be the next prize."

Dr O'Shea said his research had painted a hypothetical picture of such an egg mass and its travels with the currents before hundreds of thousands of larvae were released, but he had never actually seen one.

"It was exactly like the egg mass we proposed for the study."

He could not say what type of squid were in the egg mass, photographed during the breeding period, but because it matched his hypothesis so closely it could be one of the seven known types of giant squid.

"The odds are against it being giant squid but the size of the egg mass is consistent with it," Dr O'Shea said.

In February this year, NIWA scientists became the first in the world to capture live specimens of the giant squid. The seven juvenile specimens, around a week old, measured just 9-13mm in length. They died after 30 days in captivity.

While fewer than 100 adult specimens have been recorded around the world, all dead in nets or washed ashore, 70 of them have been in New Zealand waters within the last six years.

Mr Doak said there were two populations of giant squid in New Zealand, one at the Chatham Rise from December to early March and the other off the South Island's West Coast from June to August.

"There are two hatching areas around New Zealand -- one is off the West Coast of the South Island in the Hokitika Canyon, where they are spawning in June and July," he said.

"The other is on the other side of the South Island, off Banks Peninsula, where they are spawning in January and February."