European squid propulsion. The posterior border is slightly concave. The head is relatively small and has large eyes which are covered with a transparent membrane. Like almost all squid, this species has ten limbs surrounding the mouth and beak: eight are relatively short arms, and two, which form the tentacles, are long, as they are used to catch prey. The fourth left arm of males is a hectocotylus. The European squid can grow up to 30–40 cm in the mantle length, but more usually they are 15–25 cm long. The males are generally bigger than the females and exhibit more rapid rates
Colossal squid study on the specimen later showed its actual weight was , but it only measured in total length as a result of the tentacles' shrinking "post mortem". On February 22, 2007, authorities in New Zealand announced the largest known colossal squid had been captured. The specimen weighed and was initially estimated to measure in total length. Fishermen on the vessel "San Aspiring", owned by the Sanford Seafood Company, caught the animal in the freezing Antarctic waters of the Ross Sea. It was brought to the surface as it fed on an Antarctic toothfish that had been caught off a long