GIANT SQUID DISSECTION

In November 2009, Curator of Mollusks Liz Shea, Ph.D., assisted in the dissection of a giant squid at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History. She worked with the Smithsonian's Emeritus Curator Clyde Roper, Ph.D., and Michael Vecchione of the National Marine Fisheries Service. The specimen was discovered by scientists in the Gulf of Mexico in July and transported to Washington, D.C., for freezing and storage.

How long did the squid take to defrost? How long did the dissection take? How many hearts do cephalopods have? Find out by watching this slideshow (for a slower pace, click on the slideshow to view the album in Picasa):  

Photos by: Liz Shea and Paula Rothman