Rare Giant Squid Spotted Off the Coast of Japan

Giant squid are rarely seen so close to the surface since they prefer to live in the deep ocean.

While children all across the world dreamed of dancing sugarplums this Christmas Eve, folks in Japan got a much more harrowing vision: a rare sighting of a giant squid.

The majestic animal, which can grow up to 13m-long, typically lives nearly 1km below the surface but was spotted by fisherman swimming under boats in the Toyama prefecture, about 250km northwest of Tokyo, on Christmas Eve, the Wall Street Journal reports.

This incredible video shows the moment a giant squid has an afternoon swim – and has no fear of the humans trailing it.

“We might see more in this season, but it’s very rare for them to be found swimming around (the fishing boats’) moorings”.

“This squid was not damaged and looked lively, spurting ink and trying to entangle his tentacles around me”, the diver told CNN. Let’s hope this guy goes back where he belongs; nobody wants an entire bay full of horny, hungry squid.

The Toyama squid is a fairly small example of the species, estimated at around 3.7 meters (12.1 feet) long, and may be a juvenile. The truth is that we just don’t know enough about Architeuthis to make that call yet; seeing it outside the deep, deep sea is an extreme rarity, and obviously we’re not going to drag this thing out of the ocean to give it a species check.