Giant Squid caught on film
Discovery Channel releases never-seen-before footage of eight-metre sea creature
In this television image made from video recorded in the summer of 2012 provided by NHK and Discovery Channel, a giant squid swims in the deep sea off Chichi island, Japan. (AP Photo/ NHK/NEP/Discovery Channel ) EDITORIAL USE ONLY, MANDATORY CREDIT
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The giant squid, once only the stuff of sea legends, has been caught on film deep within the Pacific Ocean for the first time ever.
The squid, which is up to eight meters long, was filmed by a team of Japanese scientists and the Japanese public broadcaster, which was working with the U.S. Discovery Channel. The footage was captured about 1,000 kilometres off the coast of Japan, in the Pacific Ocean. It will air on the Discovery program Curiosity on Jan. 27 in an episode called: “Monster Squid: The Giant is Real.”
Though Discovery Channel made the announcement that it had secured the footage in December, actual footage was released to news outlets this week, including these images:
And this video, included in a clip from ABC News:
The footage came only after the crew had done about 100 missions, totalling 400 hours, in a cramped submarine.
Giant squids live alone and Japanese scientist Tsunemi Kubodera says, in a clip posted at The Guardian, that the squid caught on film looked “like it was rather lonely” when he saw it.
Kubodera was part of a team that captured a female giant squid in 2006. That squid was seven metres long and died after it was captured.