How do you defrost a giant squid? With a giant microwave

How do you defrost a giant squid? With a giant microwave
By Kathy Marks, Asia-Pacific Correspondent
Published: 23 March 2007
The monster from the deep faces the ultimate indignity: being microwaved in the interests of science.

The colossal squid landed by New Zealand fishermen last month is now officially the largest caught, after weighing in at 1,089lb (540kg), nearly 100lb heavier than initial estimates. But scientists itching to study it more closely face the challenge of how to thaw it out. The creature was frozen to preserve it during its journey from Antarctica to New Zealand's national museum, Te Papa Tongarewa, in the capital, Wellington.

The problem with leaving the 33ft-long (10m) squid to defrost naturally at room temperature, experts say, is that the process would take so long - probably several days - that its outer tissue would rot while they waited for inner sections to thaw.

Steve O'Shea, one of the world's leading squid experts, said one solution under consideration was putting it in a giant microwave oven: "Obviously not a commercial-grade thing, but there are certain microwave equivalents that are used by industry for treating timber that we could probably fit this thing into."

The challenge of figuring out how to defrost New Zealand's new aquatic celebrity has gripped the public. Mr O'Shea, who will be studying it once it has thawed, said 426 people had written to the museum with suggestions.

The fishermen were long-lining for Patagonian toothfish, or Chilean sea bass, in the Southern Ocean when they snared the squid and it took them two hours to land the creature.

Colossal squid, which for centuries have fuelled legends of deep-sea monsters, are believed to grow to up to 46ft long. But only a few intact specimens have been hauled ashore. This one, which is frozen in a one metre square cube of ice and stored in a large container, was weighed last week.

It is by far the largest example of the species, Mesonychoteuthis hamiltoni, ever caught, 429lb heavier than the previous record-breaker, an immature female landed on the surface of the Ross Sea, off the Antarctic coast, in 2003.

This latest specimen has eyes as big as dinner plates, and would yield calamari rings the size of tractor tyres - although, according to Mr O'Shea, they would taste like ammonia. Its gender has not yet been determined, but it is suspected to be a female. Females are often larger.

Colossal squid, which live at depths of up to 6,500ft, are aggressive killers that have been known to attack sperm whales.

Once it has been defrosted, probably with the help of infra-red technology, and then studied, curators will decide how to turn it into a museum piece. Te Papa's mollusc collections manager, Bruce Marshall, said it would be embalmed, and then plunged into a long-term preservative. "It will require the biggest tank of anything we've got," he told the BBC.