Students in the Marine Ecology topic (BIOL2742) were invited recently by Dr Ryan Baring and Dr Lauren Meyer to take part in a fascinating extra-curricular activity: the dissection of a full giant squid specimen.

Discovery of a full giant squid specimen, and the opportunity to dissect the specimen, is rare, so students were joined by squid experts from the University of South Australia and the South Australian Museum, who came to Flinders to take part.

More than 45 students came to the Bedford Park campus on Saturday 25 September to engage with the hand-on experience offered through their studies.

The team would like to thank Australian Fishing Enterprises, who provided the specimen to the University.

The students were also invited to dissect a large sevengill shark with Associate Professor Charlie Huveneers, which provided them with the opportunity to learn key life history differences between cephalopods and sharks.