VIGO -The Azores (AP) - A group of fishermen looking for swordfish came across one of natures most mysterious creature's instead: a giant squid, measuring over five meters in length and with black eyes the size of apples.

A Spanish vessel operating in the Azores, in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, found the creature's remains in July, when it was ensnared by the fishermens' nets. The crew froze the animal and took it to the Spanish port of Vigo in that country's northeastern corner.

Giant squid are so mysterious that only some 300 sightings have been documented in the past 500 years, and no one has seen one alive, said Mario Rasero, a biologist with the Oceanographic Institute of Spain

In 1999, the leading expert on the species-- Clyde Roper of the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, D.C.-- placed a camera on the head of a sperm whale, the giant squid's only known predator, in the deep waters off New Zealand. Even so, he was unable to locate a live specimen. Giant squid live at depths of 200 to 1000 meters, allowing themselves to be carried along by the currents.

The giant squid is one of the sea's last myths. It lives at depths between 200 and 1000 meters and no one has ever seen a living specimen in spite of the expeditions organized by scientists and adventurers, although the foremost expert on the subject hopes to do so by next spring.

The crew of the "Nueva Zumaia" found the giant squid, belonging to the species known as Architeuthis Dux, some 300 miles to the west of the Azores, in the center of the North Atlantic, while the collected their tackle on July 15, 2001. After measuring the specimen, the notified the Oceanographic Institute. When scientists confirmed their interest in the creature, they froze it.

The giant squid reached the Oceanographic Institute on August 6. Four biologists with the Deep Water Fisheries Program are researching the specimen, which is in a relatively good state of preservation, which is customary with finds of this nature. However, its arms, tentacles and the body's rear end are damaged, showing signs of a violent death due either to contact with the fishing tackle or a predator attack. The length of its body is of one and a half meters, but when alive and with its complete set of tentacles and arms, it reached a length of 5 meters. Its eyes resemble soccer balls.

When the team of biologists conclude their tasks, the giant squid shall be frozen once more until its preservation at some museum is discussed. In principle, the Oceanographic Insititue wishes to donate it to the Marine Museum currently under construction at Alcabre.

For display, formaldehyde shall be pumped into its tissues and it shall be placed within a methacrylate container with 50% alcohol, the same method employed for the one being exhibited at a museum in Luarca.

Translation (C) 2001. Scott Corrales, Institute of Hispanic Ufology.

Special thanks to Gloria Coluchi.