Taxi-Sized Squid Caught off Louisiana

Scientists studying whale diets in the Gulf of Mexico unexpectedly hauled in a giant squid half as long as a school bus, Reuters reports. The 19.5-foot-long creature dragged up from 1,500 feet below the sea off Louisiana is the first giant squid found in the area in over 50 years and the first ever to be caught during research. The squid, which didn't survive the change in water depth, is being sent to the Smithsonian to be studied.

"As the trawl net rose out of the water, I could see that we had something big in there ... really big," said Anthony Martinez, a marine mammal scientist for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. (More giant squid stories.)