WASHINGTON - Japanese researchers Tsunemi Kubodera and Kyoichi Mori have claimed the credit as the first ones to photograph a live giant squid ending years of quest from scientists and adventurers alike.
The giant squid has been labeled as a "tentacled deep-sea monster" and happens to be the largest invertebrate on Earth. Kubodera and Mori used a digital camera to capture the images of this 25 feet (8 meters) long monster at a depth of 2,950 feet (900 meters) in the North Pacific Ocean. The researchers have reported their findings in the British journal Proceedings of the Royal Society of London Series B.
The images were captured as the squid was lured by bait about 500 miles south of Tokyo, near the Ogasawara Islands. Kubodera is affiliated to the National Science Museum in Tokyo, while Kyoichi Mori is an active member of the Ogasawara Whale Watching Association. In their report they write, "Architeuthis (giant squid) appears to be a much more active predator than previously suspected, using its elongated feeding tentacles to strike and tangle prey." According to the images, the cephalopod is quite active. This is contrary to what was earlier thought among the scientific community.
The Japanese researchers also managed to capture one of the squid's tentacles, "It was exciting to get a live Architeuthis tentacle. It was still functioning when we got it on the boat," Dr Kubodera said. In their report the researchers wrote that the long tentacles were not merely appendages as was previously thought, "Our images suggest that giant squids are much more active predators than previously suggested."
The giant squid has always fascinated researchers as well as romantic adventurers since it has remained elusive. The most famous historical reference to the squid is in Jules Verne's classic that describes a huge monster attacking Capt Nemo's submarine Nautilus. It was only in 1874 that the first real giant squid was captured dead by fisherman off Newfoundland.
