Te Papa's half-tonne colossal squid was a not a fearsome predator but a colossal wuss, new research has suggested.

wuss squid
©Phil Reid/The Dominion Post
Marine biologist Steve O'Shea with Te Papa's half-tonne colossal squid.


While the squid was firmly in the heavy-weight fighting division, tipping the scales at 495 kilograms, it was little more than an "enormous blob" according to squid expert Steve O'Shea.

He said experts now believed colossal squid grew more docile as they grew bigger, a strange phenomenon that has caught scientists off guard.

"We are looking at something verging on the incredibly bizarre," Dr O'Shea said.

"As she gets bigger she is reduced to little more than a giant gelatinous blob."

This could have something to do with the breeding patterns of the deep sea behemoth, which scientists knew very little about, Dr O'Shea said.

Giant squid had reputations as aggressive and dangerous predators and colossal squid had been the subject of much fear and misrepresentation.

But as the colossal squid grew bigger, they grew shorter and wider. This was likely to impact their behaviour and their ability to hunt, Dr O'Shea said

"I can't imagine an animal like this jetting itself around the water at any great speed."

However, when the squid were smaller they were more aggressive, as shown by a smaller female caught in 2003.

"It's not sitting down there sipping on cups of tea or anything like that.

"It's got this arsenal of beaks and hooks which at some stage in its life-cycle it would have used."

Dr O'Shea said these ideas were still only theory however, and he was not willing to bet the house on his hypothesis.

"I still don't want to be in the water with it."

There was still no record of the behaviour of male colossal squid which could live in different areas and behave completely differently, he said.

In theory, Jules Verne's man-eating colossal squid could still be lurking beneath the surface.

Little is known of these animals as they live in the near freezing Antarctic waters at depths in excess of 1000 metres.

Young squid are not uncommon in surface waters to 1000 metres, but adults of this species are exceedingly rare in collections.

The documentary on the colossal squid will feature on the Discovery Channel later this month.