Half-eaten elusive sea creature reveals ‘mysteries of the deep’ at New Zealand beach
The white lump was discovered lying in the sand, partially buried. It had three hearts, a giant eye — and chewed up tentacles.
The corpse of an elusive, deep-sea creature had washed ashore at a beach in New Zealand, photos from Anton Donaldson’s Facebook page show.
Local guides at Farewell Spit – a long beach on the northern coast of New Zealand’s southern island – made the discovery on Sept. 9, Live Science reported.
Architeuthis dux – a giant squid.
The giant squid is one of the most elusive creatures, supposedly the inspiration for the mythological Kraken, Live Science reported. Giant squids have “three hearts, the largest eye in the animal kingdom and a parrot-like beak designed for ripping flesh,” Donaldson, who works at Farewell Spit Tours wrote on Facebook on Sept. 10.
The squid’s corpse measured about 13 feet long, not including its chewed up tentacles, the New Zealand Herald reported.
“The tentacles on it were chewed back,” Donaldson told the New Zealand Herald. “It looked like they had been chewed back by some other sea creatures such as small sharks or fish. While I don’t know for sure, I imagine it had been floating out there for a period of time and had washed up.”
The recent discovery is rare. “For most people it’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” Donaldson told the New Zealand Herald, “or not even a once-in-a-lifetime.”
A few tourists lucky enough to be visiting the beach that day witnessed the sight, photos on Facebook showed.
Farewell Spit is on New Zealand’s southern island, about 270 miles southwest of Auckland.
This story was originally published September 14, 2022 at 5:01 PM with the headline "Half-eaten elusive sea creature reveals ‘mysteries of the deep’ at New Zealand beach."
