WATCH: Japanese divers have close encounter with giant squid
Footage has emerged of two scuba divers having a very close encounter with a rare giant squid of the coast of Japan earlier this month (January 2023).
Yosuke Tanaka, 41, encountered the eight-foot-long squid while diving with his wife Miki, 34, off the western coast of Japan. The couple, who operate a diving business in Toyooka city in the Hyogo region, found out about the squid from a fishing equipment vendor who spotted it in a bay, reports the Japan Times.
Taking their boat out to reach the squid, which is a member of the molluscan class Cephalopoda, the divers found it floating near a rocky shoreline.
“It was an enormous squid,” Yosuke Tanaka told the Times. “I could see its tentacles moving. I thought it would be dangerous to be grabbed hard by them and taken off somewhere.”
Although giant squid are known to live in the waters around Japan, and occasionally wash ashore, seeing them alive is relatively rare.
Tanaka said that his experience would stick with him.
“It was very exciting. I think there is nothing rarer than this,” he adds. “I have heard not a lot is known about this creature. I’d be happy if this helps us learn more.”
Header image and video courtesy of Science Alert’s YouTube channel.
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