Incredibly rare giant squid was spotted swimming through Toyama Bay in Japan

One cannot witness mysteries from the deep see swimming into plain sight every day. However, a group of tourists enjoying a trip in the Toyama Bay in central Japan got such an opportunity this Christmas Eve. They got to see a rare giant squid swimming.

The marine creature was seen swimming under fishing boats and near the surface of the Japanese Bay. For those who don’t know: the Toyama Bay has been known for being home to Firefly squids. The massive creature spotted by tourists this Christmas Eve hung around for quite some time before ushering back into open water.

The giant squid got captured on video using a high-end submersible camera. That’s not all; it was also joined by Akinobu Kimura, a diver and the proprietor of Diving Shop Kaiyu. Kimura swam through an area very close to the real-life marine monster.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TkDu6weKjyU

When asked how he could achieve such a daring feat, Kimura said that for him his curiosity was much bigger than his fear. This curiosity allowed him to jump into the water fearlessly and cover the distance to get close to the enormous red-and-white creature.

Kimura added that the squid didn’t suffer any injury and appeared absolutely lively. It spurted ink and tried to hold him using all his tentacles. Kimura swam along with the squid guiding it across the ocean, which allowed the creature to travel hundreds of meters away from the place it was first spotted in. Then, gradually it disappeared into the ocean.

Yuki Ikushi, who works at the Uozu Aquarium as a curator, informed that according to latest reports, the last season saw a total of 16 Architeuthis squids getting trapped by the fishing nets. The one we are taking about in this news piece is just the first sighting of the current season. For those who don’t know: here, the term “season” refers to the time between November and March.

As still a lot of time is left for the season to end, experts are expecting to see more giant squids this season. However, Ikushi said that although seeing several squids during a particular season, is quite normal, watching them swimming around the moorings of the fishing boats is extremely rare.