On Christmas Eve, fishermen in Toyama Bay of Japan were startled to see a 12-foot huge squid gliding near their marina for many hours, whereas local divers were able to record the cephalopod on video.

While speaking to the Japan Times, Mizuhashi Fisherina manager Tatsuya Wakasugi said that he was surprised to spot a living squid. The sightings of squid weren’t uncommon in the region, but fishermen generally detect dead ones tangled up in their nets when their colors fade.

It was in 2012, when first ever footage of a live giant squid, or Architeuthis dux, was recorded. The video captured by Toyama divers come up as an early gift for scientists and squid enthusiasts worldwide.

The ocean behemoths stretch up to 40 feet long, and tend to live 2,000 to 3,000 feet under the surface, which is partially why legend, instead of science, informs squid lore’s better part.

Poet Alfred Lord Tennyson imagined in ‘The Kraken’ enjoying ‘his ancient, dreamless, uninvaded sleep’ out of the sailors or whalers’ reach in the 1800s.

The preference of squids for the deep sea has made the Toyama sighting surprising. Cameramen went along with divers when they swam with the squid, guiding it out of the shallow harbor. Japan's ANN network was the first one to report the video.

Diving shop owner Akinobu Kimura told CNN, “My curiosity was way bigger than [my] fear, so I jumped into the water and [got] close to it. The squid looked lively, spurting ink and trying to entangle his tentacles around me”. He reported that some were concerned that it was apparently injured.