Divers off the coast of Japan have taken a rare video of a giant squid. Yosuke Tanaka and his partner Miki saw the animal swimming close to the surface of the water.
“I was so excited,” Yosuke told Newsweek. “And I felt terrified because it had very thick arms – if I was caught, I would not be able to escape.”
Architeuthis dux, or the giant squid, is one of the most mysterious animals on Earth. Most of what is known about this species comes from dead ones found on beaches worldwide. Because these specimens are often broken or missing tentacles, they can only tell us so much. This makes the video even more interesting.
The video shows that the giant squid was moving slowly and that pieces of its skin were coming off because it had been hurt. Some people think that the squid is acting strangely because it is close to the surface of the water. These squids are thought to live at depths of 300 to 1,000 meters (985 to 3,280 feet).
This squid was thought to be about 2.5 meters (8 feet) long, which isn’t very big since the longest squid ever recorded was almost 13 meters (43 feet) long (43 feet).
Squids have eight arms and two tentacles to move around and catch their food. Researchers found out that giant squid probably eats fish, shrimp, and other squids by looking at what was in their stomachs. There is even evidence that the bigger squid might have eaten small whales.
They and the colossal squid (Mesonychoteuthis hamiltoni), which is related to them, have the biggest eyes in the animal kingdom, which can be up to 27 centimeters (11 inches) across. It is thought that this is a way for them to deal with living in the dark depths of the ocean, and it could help them find dangerous animals like sperm whales.
“I have heard not a lot is known about this creature. I’d be happy if this helps us learn more,” Tanaka told AFP.
