WATCH: The first-ever footage of the legendary giant squid in its natural habitat

Sailors' accounts of the fearsome kraken thrashing around the waters with its arch-nemesis, the sperm whale, have long been the stuff of legend. And the legend was only fueled by the incredible difficulty of glimpsing the multi-tentacled cephalopod alive in its natural deep-sea habitat, where oxygen and light are scarce and the water pressure is deadly.

That's why scientists are excited about new, first-time footage of the giant squid swimming around in the deep ocean. While the remains of monstrous specimens have been collected in museums around the world, it wasn't until 2005 when a team of scientists, led by Tsunemi Kubodera of Japan's National Science Museum, were able to photograph the 26-foot-long monster trawling the ocean depths for food for the first time in recorded history.

And later this month, the same team will premiere first-ever video of a similar beast spotted at a depth of 2,067 feet, just east of Chichi Island in the north Pacific Ocean. Check out a teaser above.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

The three-man crew reportedly spent 400 hours in their submarine before they came across the massive, silver-colored giant squid, which was strangely missing two of its tentacles. More footage of the "holy grail" of sea animals can be viewed on the Discovery Channel on Jan. 27 as part of a new documentary, Monster Squid: The Giant Is Real. And in the meantime, check out this brief 90-second clip.