19 July, 2017
According to the BBC, the trawler Cú na Mara caught the rare squid in its nets on Tuesday, just two months after catching their first squid, which measured around 20 feet long.
And yet the same crew were fortunate enough to land a larger squid in May, measuring 5.8 metres.
It was landed by the same crew during a trawl on the Porcupine Bank. The first catch was the first of its kind since 1995, when Captain Patrick Flannery's father landed a two giant squids in the same year as well.
Marine biologist Dr Kevin Flannery said the landing of giant squid in Ireland is extremely rare.
"Only seven have been recorded here since records began nearly 350 years ago".
A giant squid has been landed by fishermen in West Kerry, one of the oceans most elusive creatures is only one of the 7th specimen to be landed in Ireland since records began 350 years ago. The lads were very excited.
Unbelievably, out of the seven sightings that have been recorded, the Flannery family have caught four.
"My father has two and I have two".
"I'll probably have to catch a third now so that I can have bragging rights", Flannery told RTÉ News, which has more on the story HERE.
