Couple capture giant squid while scuba diving in Japan
Instructor Yosuke Tanaka, 41, and his wife Miki, 34, were on a day trip when locals at a tackle shop told them of sightings of the elusive, 8-foot-long animal that lurked off the coast of Toyooka City. (CREDIT: ViralPress/yosuke_tstyle)
Video has surfaced of a giant squid swimming off the coast of Japan, marking a rare sighting and footage of these elusive creatures.
Yosuke Tanaka, 41, encountered the 8-foot-long squid while diving off the west coast of Japan with his wife Miki, 34. The couple, who run a dive shop in the city of Toyooka, learned about the octopus from a fishing tackle dealer who spotted it in a cove, the Japan Times reported.
Tanaka and Miki took a boat to look for the creature and stayed near the shore while combing the bay.
“I could see its tentacles moving. I thought it would be dangerous to be grabbed tightly and carried somewhere by them,” Tanaka told the Times.
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“We didn’t see the kind of agile movements that many fish and sea creatures typically exhibit,” he added. “Its tentacles and fins moved very slowly.”
Yosuke Tanaka, 41, encountered the 8-foot-long squid while diving off the west coast of Japan with his wife Miki, 34. (Image credit: ViralPress/yosuke_tstyle)
Footage, released by Viral Press, shows the giant squid swimming near the surface, its tentacles floating behind it, while the pair swim nearby. The squid seems either unaware of their presence or undisturbed.
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A volunteer researcher at the National Museum of Nature and Science in Tokyo told NHK News that the octopus was probably around 1 or 2 years old given its size. A giant squid can grow up to 39 feet long.
While diving off Queensland, Australia in 2018, Abc Scuba Diving Port Douglas owner and operator Jay Wink captured this image of squid eggs held together by a gelatinous material. (Jay Wink/ABC Scuba Diving Port Douglas)
The sheer size of the animal struck Tanaka, and he said he couldn’t help but think of tales of squid fighting whales. He assured the experience would stay with him, saying it was “very exciting” and “there’s nothing rarer than that”.
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Giant squid have appeared occasionally along the coast of Japan, with the last known sighting in March 2022. Most of what scientists have learned about giant squid comes from the stomachs of sperm whales, one of the squid’s main predators.
In a rare case in Japan, a live giant squid (Architeuthis dux) is pulled to the surface on a baited hook. The giant squid can be up to 40 feet long and weigh almost a ton. (Tsunemi-Cubodera)
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One study estimates that sperm whales feed on up to 131 million giant squid each year, Newsweek reported. The animals are most commonly found in New Zealand and Japan, as well as the North Atlantic and African waters.
Peter Aitken is a reporter at Fox News Digital specializing in national and global news.