A rare encounter with a giant squid was caught on video when the mysterious creature from the deep sea emerged at a marina in the city of Toyama on Christmas Eve. It spent several hours in the harbor of Toyama which is located 186 miles west of Tokyo.
The squid measuring an estimated 12 feet long was spotted swimming beneath docked fishing boats. Giant squid can grow to be up to 43 feet ins size.
Local people were surprised as giant squids rarely appear in shallow coastal waters.
“The squid was incredibly big,” Yuki Igushi, a curator at Uozu Aquarium in Toyama, told reporters as he described his feeling as he swam close to the creature. “The suckers were so powerful. When I touched one with my hands, it tried to stick to my body.”
Tatsuya Wakasugi, a manager at the Mizuhashi Fisherina marina where the squid was spotted, said he was amazed to see a living giant squid in shallow water.
“Maybe it was a Christmas present,” he said.
Akinobu Kimura, owner of the local Diving Shop Kaiyu, successfully captured the close-up footage of its red-and-white body. He said, “This squid was not damaged and looked lively, spurting ink and trying to entangle his tentacles around me. I guided the squid toward to the ocean, several hundred meters from the area it was found in, and it disappeared into the sea.”.
The giant squid, from the genus Architeuthis, is one of the largest known invertebrates and the second-largest mollusk. They are found all around the world, but there is debate to if there are more than one species.
