A giant squid is seen in this still image taken from video captured from a submersible by scientists near Ogasawara (Photo : Reuters)
Spectators on a pier in Toyama Bay in Japan witnessed a rare sighting of a giant squid recently. The creature which swam close to the bay was joined by a diver who spontaneously jumped into the water to film the creature.
The squid which was seen floating close to the surface of the bay, swam under docked boats and was finally lured back to the open water, CNN reported.
Diver and owner of Diving Shop Kaiyu, Akinobu Kimura, who jumped into the water swam in close proximity to the red-and-white giant squid and filmed the sea creature using a submersible camera.
"My curiosity was way bigger than fear, so I jumped into the water and go close to it," Kimura told the American news channel. Further, Kimura said the squid seemed to be in good health and looked lively, spurting ink and trying to entangle its tentacles around him.
" I guided the squid to the ocean, several hundred meters from the area it was found in, and it disappeared into the sea," he said.
According to the Daily Mail, the giant squid which was recently seen is the largest ever to be recorded by scientists at 13 meters long and weighing about one ton.
The first images of a live giant squid which belongs to Architeuthis family, was captured by researchers in Japan in 2004 its natural habitat. However, it was not until July 2012 that a live adult species was first filmed off Chichi-jima in its natural habitat, the British publication reported.
Meanwhile, it has also been reported that there were 16 sightings of Architeuthis squid trapped by fishing nets last season in Japan, and this giant squid sighting is the first this season which runs from November to March.
While the species typically inhabits deep waters, scientists said it is unclear why this one wandered into the bay as it is rare to spot them floating around moorings.
