Colossal squid
The largest recorded specimen was captured in 2007 by a New Zealand fishing boat off Antarctica. It was initially estimated to measure in length and weigh . The squid was taken back to New Zealand for scientific study. A study on the specimen later showed its actual weight was , but it only measured in total length as a result of the tentacles' shrinking "post mortem".
Cephalopod size
For standard length (excluding the tentacles), Paxton (2016a:83) cited the of the "Three Arms specimen" documented by Verrill (1880a:192) as the "longest measured". Among specimens recovered from sperm whales, the longest "definitely measured" SL is the reported by Clarke (1956:257) and the longest "visually estimated" SL is the attributed to a photograph of a sperm whale with giant squid remains in its jaws (see Hansford, 2009), though Paxton conceded that it is "[n]ot clear how much/what portion of body was eaten". For the "longest visually estimated", more extreme supposed SLs of and are cited to Starkey (1963) and Ellis (1998a:246), respectively (the latter an eyewitness account by Dennis Braun). Paxton treated these last two size estimates as SLs as opposed to TLs because "squid do not generally leave their tentacles exposed except when grabbing prey and this appears to be the case for "Architeuthis"".