Calamari was on the menu all week for these villagers after a local fisherman caught an eight-foot-long (2.4 metres) giant squid.

The enormous marine creature was hauled ashore on Friday morning at around 9am local time in the remote island region of Tawi-tawi, Philippines.

Dozens of stunned residents crowded round the bright white squid - measuring 18 inches wide - as it lay on the ground in the remote coastal village.

A tape measured stretched out over the creature shows it to be just over 8ft long - the biggest the region has ever seen.

Harold Eduardo Curtis, a fisherman on the island who saw the squid, said: ''I know the fisherman who caught this squid. It was hard for him to bring it in because of the weight.

''The beautiful feature of this squid was how clean it was, how bright and white. It was a very healthy squid and still young. The meat will taste very good.

''This is the biggest I have ever seen caught here. It looks like it is from a family of large squid, so there will be more out in the ocean of this size and maybe even bigger.''

+STILLS AVAILABLE ON REQUEST+