"... Scientists didn't even have photographs of a live one in the wild until 2004. Occasionally, a fishing boat will haul in a big dead or dying blob. ..."
Back in 2008 I watched a giant squid dissection & captured images of the dissection ~ http://www.flickr.com/photos/bootload/sets/72157606211764544... But I don't remember viewing the eye. If memory serves me I think the eye was a casualty of the ascent.
"... There's things down there where their entire bodies are made of snot, they've got detachable heads, their teeth fall out, they explode and they eat their snot jackets. ... There is just weird things going on everywhere. ..." Dr Mark Norman.
It was caught at a depth of 550m by a commercial fishing vessel, 'Zeehaan' off the coast of Portland, Victoria. Weighing in at ~245Kg with a length of 12m the dissection concentrated on finding things out like the length, contents of the stomach, sex & also looking for sperm capsules injected by male squid at speed. The place stank of ammonium and no you couldn't eat it. The flesh is infused with ammonia for buoyancy.
Anecdotally we once had a dish of raw squid at a Japanese restaurant. They tried to dissuade us from ordering it. I could taste nothing but ammonia. There's also the ammonia (aka Liquorice?) flavored vodka: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salmiakki_Koskenkorva
Take home: what is edible may depend on where you grew up (deep ocean, etc.)
"... They tried to dissuade us from ordering it. I could taste nothing but ammonia. ..."
That is funny, don't say they didn't warn you. The room I was in was pretty big, 2 levels but the smell was like putting your nose to bleach. The taste doesn't seem to matter to Sperm whale.
Back in 2008 I watched a giant squid dissection & captured images of the dissection ~ http://www.flickr.com/photos/bootload/sets/72157606211764544... But I don't remember viewing the eye. If memory serves me I think the eye was a casualty of the ascent.
"... There's things down there where their entire bodies are made of snot, they've got detachable heads, their teeth fall out, they explode and they eat their snot jackets. ... There is just weird things going on everywhere. ..." Dr Mark Norman.
It was caught at a depth of 550m by a commercial fishing vessel, 'Zeehaan' off the coast of Portland, Victoria. Weighing in at ~245Kg with a length of 12m the dissection concentrated on finding things out like the length, contents of the stomach, sex & also looking for sperm capsules injected by male squid at speed. The place stank of ammonium and no you couldn't eat it. The flesh is infused with ammonia for buoyancy.
There is also a video of the entire dissection & running commentary by "Squid (Cephalopod) nerd", Dr Mark Norman from Museum of Victoria ~ http://museumvictoria.com.au/pages/7003/MVLiveSquidDissectio... (400Mb @ 1hr+) and the highlights ~ http://museumvictoria.com.au/learning-federation/video-temp/... (10min)