More than a year after it was pulled from Antarctica's icy depths, the world's largest squid ever captured is finally expected to be closely examined this month.

The squid, weighing 495kg and estimated to be six to eight metres long, has remained on ice at the Te Papa Tongarewa museum in Wellington since it was pulled from the Ross Sea by New Zealand fishermen last February.

A statement from the museum today said scientists from New Zealand and Japan have been invited to lead the examination of the specimen on April 30, which is from a species known as colossal squid.