This king-size calamari sent shock waves throughout the biology community.
Japanese authorities were left flabbergasted after discovering an ultra-rare, live giant squid stranded on a beach in Obama on Wednesday morning. A video of the supersized cephalopod has racked up over 200,000 views on Twitter.
“It is unusual for a giant squid to be washed ashore alive,” an official told the Japanese newspaper Mainichi of the mammoth mollusk, which measured 9 feet from head to tentacles, the Independent reported.
Though unusual, the specimen was a squeaker by the standards of giant squid — the world’s largest invertebrate — which are capable of growing up to 43 feet long.
Footage shows the colossal flotsam floating in the shallows as officials take measurements and snap pictures of the one-of-a-kind find.
Officials plan to transport the critter to Echizen Matsushima Aquarium in the city of Sakai, where they’ll conduct a full examination, the Independent reported.
This isn’t the first time a giant squid has been sighted ashore in recent years. In 2020, startled beachcombers happened across a fully intact specimen washed up on a beach in South Africa.
An elusive denizen of the deep, a live giant squid hadn’t been captured on film until 2006, when scientists recorded a female attacking bait under a research vessel off the Ogasawara Islands.
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