ITS GIGANTIC eye might give the kids nightmares for the rest of summer, but Melbourne Aquarium curator Nick Kirby insists his newest treasure — a seven-metre giant squid — is worth every cent he paid for it.

The 250-kilogram creature, caught by commercial fishermen off New Zealand's South Island earlier this year, has cost the aquarium more than $100,000, which included purchasing and transporting the squid. The bill also included displaying the squid in a purpose-built 3½-tonne block of ice.

Mr Kirby said his prize investment would allow Melburnians to lay eyes on a creature that had rarely been seen, demonised in mythology and bad-mouthed in biology.