"It's a whopper," Tasmanian Museum senior curator Genefor Walker-Smith told local media on Wednesday. "The main mantle is about one metre across and its total length is about eight metres."

Scientists would take samples from the creature, identified by state parks officials as an Architeuthis, which can grow to more than 10 metres (33 feet) in length and weigh more than 275 kilograms (606 pounds). The Tasmanian animal was 250 kg.

The tentacles had been badly damaged, so the overall length of the animal could not be determined, a Tasmania Parks and Wildlife spokeswoman said. Park rangers had moved the remains from the water.

Giant squid, once believed to be mythical despite occasional sightings by mariners, feed on fish and other squid. Last year, fishermen off the Falkland Islands caught a complete animal measuring 8.62 metres.

Scientists believe giant squid usually live at ocean depths of between 200-700 metres (660-2,300 ft), relying in part on volleyball-sized eyes, the largest in the animal kingdom.

Scientists said giant squid gathered along Australia's continental shelf in cold mid-winter waters to feed on Grenadier fish. The squid were in turn hunted by sperm whales migrating north from the Southern Ocean.