Beachgoers were taken aback when they saw a GIANT squid measuring 9.8 feet alive washed up on Japanese shores.

The squid was discovered stranded at Ugu beach in Obama, Fukui Prefecture, at 10 a.m. local time on Wednesday, in a rare sighting, according to local authorities. According to the Japanese newspaper Mainichi, which cited the Obama Municipal Government, the huge squid was discovered alive.

An official told the newspaper: “It is unusual for a giant squid to be washed ashore alive.”

The video of the giant squid shows the mollusk swimming in shallow seas on the shore while two authorities measured it.

The squid would be brought to Sakai Prefectural City’s Echizen Matsushima Aquarium.

Squids of this size can only be found in the deep sea.

According to National Geographic, a more elusive squid reaching 24 feet was caught and brought to the surface by experts at Japan’s National Science Museum in 2006.

In 2004, the first photographs of the female squid were captured.

According to Science Focus, the largest well-preserved creature has been objectively measured to be between 39 and 40 feet tall.

However, seeing these species is quite rare.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) published rare footage of a juvenile giant squid, estimated to be 10 to 12 feet long, in June 2019.

Squid in the Gulf of Mexico was seen moving towards camera in a 28-second video shot by a scientist.

Before swimming away, the squid appeared to wrap its lengthy tentacles around NOAA’s cameras.

The researchers said: “The giant squid is large and certainly unusual from our human perspective, but if the video shows anything of the animal’s character, it shows an animal surprised by its mistake, backing off after striking at something that at first must have seemed appealing but was obviously not food.”

In 2020, beachgoers in South Africa had a rare encounter with an “astounding” huge squid that washed up on the sand.

The terrifying size of giant squid, which can grow up to 43 feet long, is supposed to have inspired belief in the existence of the kraken, a fabled sea monster.

Image Credit: Getty

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