Massive Rare Sea Creature With 8 Arms, 2 Tentacles Seen In Eerie Underwater Video

A massive rare sea creature was caught on camera during an expedition conducted by a team of researchers in the Gulf of Mexico. The rare creature has been identified as a bigfin squid.

The bigfin squid, which had large fins, eight arms and a pair of tentacles, was spotted during the "Windows to the Deep 2021: Southeast ROV and Mapping" expedition conducted by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Live Science reported Thursday. The team was scouring through the unchartered deepwater areas in the western Atlantic Ocean, off the southeastern United States, when they found it nearly 7,820 feet beneath the ocean surface.

The team spotted the creature drifting past the ROV (remotely operated vehicle) when they were near the West Florida Escarpment. It had a see-through translucent body.

Previous sightings of these creatures – which have been only 20 – were as deep as 15,534 feet below the ocean surface, NOAA's official website said. These species of bigfin are scattered across the world. However, their rare nature makes it difficult to know how many actually exist below the ocean surface.

In a video shared by NOAA, Mike Vecchione, a research zoologist with the NOAA Fisheries National Systematics Laboratory and the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History, described his experience, saying, "Magnapinna … all of their arms and tentacles have this extension on them, long, spaghetti-like extension. It's really difficult to tell the arms from the tentacles, which is very unusual for a squid."

In a similar expedition back in 2019, NOAA researchers spotted a live giant squid in the Gulf of Mexico. The expedition was focused on the effects of light deprivation on deep-sea animals that lived over 3,200 feet below the ocean's surface.

The team also shared a video showing the giant squid suddenly appearing from the depths of the ocean and approaching the camera. It extended its tentacles to touch the lure attached to the camera, known as an e-jelly. It was reportedly the first video that featured a live giant squid swimming in the U.S. territory.