What record do its eyes hold?

Largest eyes known in the animal kingdom

What happened for the first time in 2025?

A live colossal squid was filmed in the wild

Colossal Squid Quiz: Te Papa's Giant From the Southern Ocean

This colossal squid quiz meets the heaviest invertebrate known, preserved and displayed at Te Papa in Wellington. Play 10 interactive questions on the 2007 Ross Sea catch, a weight near 495 kg, eyes as large as dinner plates, swiveling hooks on its arms, sperm whale predators, how it was first described in 1925 and the first live footage filmed in 2025.

Start Colossal Squid Quiz

🎯 Daily Trivia Challenge • 🧠 10 Questions • ⏱️ 150 Seconds

Question 1 / 10 Time: 150s

Museum
Which museum displays a colossal squid?
Ocean
Where do colossal squid live?
Catch
When was Te Papa's specimen caught?
Weight
About how much did the Te Papa squid weigh?
Eyes
What record do its eyes hold?
Hooks
What does it have on its arms and tentacles?
Predator
Which whale hunts colossal squid?
Named
When was the species first described?
Footage
What happened for the first time in 2025?
Group
What kind of animal is a squid?

Explanations: answer key for all 10 questions

Q1: Which museum displays a colossal squid?
Answer: Te Papa
It is in Wellington.
Q2: Where do colossal squid live?
Answer: The Southern Ocean
They live in cold Antarctic waters.
Q3: When was Te Papa's specimen caught?
Answer: 2007
A fishing boat landed it in the Ross Sea.
Q4: About how much did the Te Papa squid weigh?
Answer: About 495 kg
It is the heaviest squid on record.
Q5: What record do its eyes hold?
Answer: Largest eyes known in the animal kingdom
They are about the size of plates.
Q6: What does it have on its arms and tentacles?
Answer: Swiveling hooks
Giant squid have toothed suckers instead.
Q7: Which whale hunts colossal squid?
Answer: Sperm whale
Scars and beaks are found in whale stomachs.
Q8: When was the species first described?
Answer: 1925
Arm pieces came from a whale's stomach.
Q9: What happened for the first time in 2025?
Answer: A live colossal squid was filmed in the wild
It was a small juvenile.
Q10: What kind of animal is a squid?
Answer: A cephalopod mollusk
Octopuses are relatives.

A Deep-Sea Giant in a Wellington Tank

The colossal squid, Mesonychoteuthis hamiltoni, lives in the cold depths of the Southern Ocean around Antarctica. It was first described in 1925 from arm pieces found in a sperm whale's stomach. It is the heaviest invertebrate known, even though the giant squid can be longer.

In 2007 a New Zealand fishing boat in the Ross Sea hauled up a colossal squid weighing about 495 kg. It went to Te Papa in Wellington, where scientists thawed and studied it before putting it on display in a large tank. Its eyes are the largest known in the animal kingdom, about the size of dinner plates.

Unlike the giant squid's toothed suckers, colossal squid arms and tentacles carry swiveling hooks. Sperm whales hunt them, and whales often bear scars from the fight. In 2025 researchers released the first footage of a live colossal squid in the wild, a small juvenile filmed near the South Sandwich Islands.

What This Quiz Teaches

Ocean life fans will enjoy these questions.

Where the squid lives
How Te Papa got its specimen
What makes it unique
Who hunts it
What recent footage showed

Did You Know?

Its beak is hard and parrot-like.
Specimens are rarely caught whole.
Blood is blue due to copper.
Te Papa means our container of treasures.
It may grow slowly in cold water.