Japanese Researchers Capture Baby Giant Squid for First Time

For the first time ever, researchers have captured three young giant squid.

ByABC News
October 25, 2015, 10:37 AM
A giant squid at a depth of 630 meters in the Pacific Ocean near the Ogasawara islands, Japan, is shown in this photograph taken by NHK and Discovery Channel during the summer 2012 and released by NHK on Jan. 8, 2013.
A giant squid at a depth of 630 meters in the Pacific Ocean near the Ogasawara islands, Japan, is shown in this photograph taken by NHK and Discovery Channel during the summer 2012 and released by NHK on Jan. 8, 2013.
NHK/NEP/Discovery Channel/EPA

— -- For the first time in history, researchers in Japan have caught three young giant squid.

All three were caught off the southwestern coast of Japan in 2013 and are genetically identical to their gigantic parents, though each weighs less than one pound, according to the Museum of Nature and Human Activities in Hyogo. The discovery was published last week in the journal Marine Biodiversity Records.

Two of the squid were caught together.

Giant squid are the world's largest invertebrate and can grow to be more than 33 feet long. They are rarely seen alive in their natural habitat.