Scientists have examined a colossal squid that was caught in Antarctica’s remote Ross Sea.

Captain John Bennett and his crew hauled up the creature from a mile below the surface.

The squid weighed 770lb, is as long as a minibus and is one of the sea’s most elusive species. It had been frozen for eight months until scientists in New Zealand got a long-anticipated chance to thaw it out and inspect it – once they used a forklift to manoeuvre it into a tank.

Huge squid sometimes inhabit the world of fiction and imagination, but have rarely been seen in daylight.

It is possible that ancient sightings of the species gave rise to tales of the kraken, or giant sea-monster squid, said Kat Bolstad, a squid scientist from the Auckland University of Technology who led the team examining the creature. She said sperm whales often eat colossal squid and are known to play with their food, and sailors may have mistaken that for epic battles.

The squid is a female, and its eight arms are each well over a yard long. Its two tentacles would have been perhaps double that length if they had not been damaged.

“This is essentially an intact specimen, which is almost an unparalleled opportunity for us to examine,' Ms Bolstad said. “This is a spectacular opportunity.”

About 142,000 people from 180 countries might have agreed as they watched streaming footage of the examination on the internet.