Divers Yosuke Tanaka and his wife Miki, who run a diving business in Toyooka, Japan, were able to capture the rare footage of an eight-foot giant squid swimming off the west coast of Japan. They were tipped off to the presence of the creature by a local fishing equipment vendor who had spotted it in a bay. They quickly took their boat out to the location near a rocky shoreline to get a closer look at the elusive animal.
“It was an enormous squid,” Yosuke Tanaka told AFP. “We didn’t see the kinds of agile movements that many fish and marine creatures normally show. Its tentacles and fins were moving very slowly.”
Marine experts indicate that it is rare for giant squids of this size to be found in such close proximity to the shore, but the video captured by Yosuke’s underwater camera displays the animal appearing unbothered by the divers’ proximity. The enormity of the squid’s eyes alone imparts a sense of its potential danger and the power of its tentacles, which have the capability to capture even a whale, one of its principal predators.
“I could see its tentacles moving. I thought it would be dangerous to be grabbed hard by them and taken off somewhere,” the diver said. “It was very exciting. I think there is nothing rarer than this.”
You can watch the rare creature in the video below.
(h.t: sciencealert)
