A New Zealand aquarium has put the corpse of a giant squid on display after it washed up dead on a beach.

The huge cephalopod was found on a beach on the nation’s South Island on Wednesday.

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“She is a MASSIVE specimen,” the Kaikoura Marine Centre and Aquarium posted on its Facebook page.

Its enormous body has been placed inside a freezer with glass windows for visitors to gawk at.

The giant squid on the shores of New Zealand’s South Island. Photo: Facebook

The squid’s mantle, or main body, is over two metres long, its longest tentacle is “just over” five metres and its eyes measure 19 centimetres in diameter, the aquarium said.

“What a beast!” the post read.

Deep-sea creatures like this squid often grow far larger than those that live in shallower water as part of a process dubbed ‘dea-sea gigantism’.

This specimen seems to be one of the larger of its species.

Colossal squid are known to grow even bigger.