Giant squid filmed in Pacific depths: Japan scientists 
 
 TOKYO — Scientists and broadcasters said Monday they have captured footage of an elusive giant squid roaming the depths of the Pacific Ocean, showing it in its natural habitat for the first time ever. 
 
 Japan's National Science Museum succeeded in filming the deep-sea creature at a depth of more than half a kilometre (a third of a mile) after teaming up with Japanese public broadcaster NHK and the US Discovery Channel. 
 
 The massive invertebrate is the stuff of legend, with sightings of a huge ocean-dwelling beast reported by sailors for centuries. 
 
 The creature is thought to be the genesis of the Nordic legend of Kraken, a sea monster believed to have attacked ships in waters off Scandinavia over the last millennium. 
 
 Modern-day scientists on their own Moby Dick-style search used a submersible to descend to the dark and cold depths of the northern Pacific Ocean, where at around 630 metres (2,066 feet) they managed to film a three-metre specimen. 
 
 After around 100 missions, during which they spent 400 hours in the cramped submarine, the three-man crew tracked the creature from a spot some 15 kilometres (nine miles) east of Chichi island in the north Pacific. 
 
 Museum researcher Tsunemi Kubodera said they followed the enormous mollusc to a depth of 900 metres as it swam into the ocean abyss. 
 
 NHK showed footage of the silver-coloured creature, which had huge black eyes, as it swam against the current, holding a bait squid in its arms. 
 
 For Kubodera it was the culmination of a lengthy quest for the beast. 
 
 "It was shining and so beautiful," Kubodera told AFP. "I was so thrilled when I saw it first hand, but I was confident we would because we rigorously researched the areas we might find it, based on past data." 
 
 Kubodera said the creature had its two longest arms missing, and estimated it would have been eight metres long if it had been whole. He gave no explanation for its missing arms. 
 
 He said it was the first video footage of a live giant squid in its natural habitat -- the depths of the sea where there is little oxygen and the weight of the water above exerts enormous pressure. 
 
 Kubodera, a squid specialist, also filmed what he says was the first live video footage of a giant squid in 2006, but only from his boat after it was hooked and brought up to the surface. 
 
 "Researchers around the world have tried to film giant squid in their natural habitats, but all attempts were in vain before," Kubodera said. 
 
 "With this footage we hope to discover more about the life of the species," he said, adding that he planned to publish his findings soon. 
 
 Kubodera said the two successful sightings of the squid -- in 2012 and 2006 -- were both in the same area, some 1,000 kilometres south of Tokyo, suggesting it could be a major habitat for the species. 
 
 The giant squid, "Architeuthis" to scientists, is sometimes described as one of the last mysteries of the ocean, being part of a world so hostile to humans that it has been little explored. 
 
 Researchers say Architeuthis eats other types of squid and grenadier, a species of fish that lives in the deep ocean. They say it can grow to be longer than 10 metres. 
 
 NHK said it and the Discovery Channel are scheduled to air special documentaries on the find later this month. 
 
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 The giant squid has been captured on video in its natural habitat for the first time ever. 
 
 This long-sought after footage — considered by many to be the Holy Grail of natural history filmmaking — will be revealed by Discovery Channel and NHK in January 2013. 
 
 With razor-toothed suckers and eyes the size of dinner plates, tales of this creature have been around since ancient times. The Norse legend of the sea monster the Kraken, and the Scylla from Greek mythology, might have derived from the elusive giant squid. 
 
 This massive predator has always been shrouded in secrecy, and every attempt to capture a live giant squid on camera in its natural habitat has failed. Until now. 
 
 Mankind finally confronts the greatest mystery of the deep as the first-ever footage of a live giant squid in its natural habitat is revealed in Discovery Channel’s Monster Squid: The Giant Is Real, which premieres on Sunday, January 27, 2013 at 10/9c as the season finale of Curiosity. NHK will air their special on the first-ever footage of the giant squid in early January 2013. 
 
 QUIZ: Take the Giant Squid Quiz 
 
 “When Discovery does natural history it sets the bar high, and this ground breaking project features the very first-ever footage of a live giant squid in its natural habitat. Our crew came face-to-face with the giant squid, and it’s the ideal season finale for our Curiosity series that stirs the imagination of our audience, bravely asking questions and fearlessly seeking answers. This latest production, four years in the making, is a world-first achievement for television, and I’m excited to share it,” said Eileen O’Neill, Group President of Discovery and TLC Networks. 
 
 VIDEO: Discovery News Report from Aug. 18, 2010
– Discovery is about to release the Kraken: Until now, the giant squid had never been caught on video in its natural habitat. But Japan's National Science Museum has managed to capture the footage, and it's headed for the small screen on the country's public television. Then, on Jan. 27, the Discovery Channel will unveil the video of the creature "with razor-toothed suckers and eyes the size of dinner plates." That's not totally an exaggeration. The giant squid is believed to have inspired centuries of legends among sailors. The squid in question is about 10 feet long—though scientists say it would have been 26 feet long had it not been missing two arms—and was taped some 2,000 feet underwater in the north Pacific. It took experts some 400 hours squeezed into a submersible to get the footage, AFP reports. "It was shining and so beautiful," says a researcher of the silvery, black-eyed squid. "I was so thrilled when I saw it firsthand."