The giant squid lives in the deep-ocean and females can grow up to an estimated 43 feet. They’ve been referenced throughout history and are the inspiration for the norse legend the kraken. Like all creatures who inhabit the deepest of the planet’s waters, access to the giant squid is limited and therefore little in known about their way of life.
While this is the first time the giant squid has been captured on video in U.S. waters, it has occurred on two previous occasions; both times were off the coast of Japan. Researchers were able to video the squid in it’s natural habitat in 2012 and in 2015 a squid actually surfaced in a bay north of Tokyo and a local diver swam alongside the creature.
The researchers who got footage of a giant squid in U.S. water was a team from Florida International University. For bait, they used a fake jellyfish armed with LED lights. The footage shows a tentacle, then all it’s tentacles and it’s head (called a mantle). The star of the video is estimated to be around 10-12 feet long.
Video of this rare event can be seen here.
