A giant squid, captured for the first time in its deep-sea habitat, swimming in July in the Pacific Ocean off northern Japan..
NHK/NEP/Discovery Channel/AP
The first images of the human-shy giant squid in its natural habitat,
filmed in the black depths of the Pacific Ocean, have been released.
The
silvery, 9-foot-long mollusk - scientists said it could have been up to
26 feet long if its two longest tentacles had not been severed - was
filmed in July off Japan's Chichi island by a three-man crew from the National Museum of Nature and Science.
The scientists followed the creature in their submersible to a depth of
more than 2,700 feet as it vanished into the ocean darkness, where
oxygen is scarce and pressure is enormous.
Japanese broadcaster
NHK showed footage Monday. The squid, with black eyes the size of dinner
plates, clutched a bait squid in its remaining arms as it swam against
the current.
"It was shining and so beautiful," researcher Tsunemi Kubodera told AFP. "I was so thrilled."
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