Breathtaking footage of a colossal squid has been collected by an undersea camera in the waters deep under Antarctica.

Both the world’s largest cephalopod and largest invertebrate, a sighting of the colossal squid is one of the most sought after prizes in marine biology. Capable of growing 25 feet long (7 meters) and weighing 1,200 pounds, (500 kg) it’s simply the stuff of dreams (or nightmares).

“We’re finally seeing confirmed footage of this animal that some of us have been studying and dreaming about for decades,” said deep-sea biologist Kat Bolstad, from Auckland University of Technology, who despite not being involved with the research team that captured the footage, did help identify the animal.

The short, yet deliciously high-definition footage was gathered by a submersible called Subastian, operated by the nonprofit Schmidt Ocean Institute, on a research trip near South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands.

Subastian was about 1,800 feet (600 meters) below sea level when the little one-foot-long (30 centimeter) squid drifted past its camera, highlighting the “beauty” of the animal, without the “monster hype” Bolstad told ABC News AU. 

Mesonychoteuthis hamiltoni is one of two “glass squid” species in the Antarctic. When these animals are just born, their eyes are on stalks outside their hoods, and since the one in the footage lacked these visible stalks, it’s likely to be a juvenile, rather than a baby. It has a substantial amount of growing to do.

Little if anything is known about the colossal squid. It’s believed they’re ambush predators, like most hunters in the lightless depths. They have the largest eyes in the animal kingdom—12 to 16 inches in diameter, or about the size of a volleyball, which is believed to give them best-in-class abilities to see through the murk, identify bioluminescent creatures, and detect sperm whales, their natural predators, from a distance.

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While this footage is the first that can be confirmed as a colossal squid, the Antarctic tourist boat Ocean Endeavour witnessed a glass squid swim by their deep-sea camera in early 2023. It was either a colossal squid or Galiteuthis glacialis, another large deep-sea species.

Dr. Bolstad told ABC that seeing the live footage of an honest-to-goodness colossal squid allowed her and her colleagues to reveal some interesting things about the species.

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“The spots on the mantle [the tube-like body] tells us that it almost certainly can switch back and forth between being completely transparent… to being quite opaque.”

It may be quite some time before an adult is filmed in the wild, since Schmidt won’t return to Antarctica until 2028. With their volleyball-sized eyes, the animals can see submersible craft long before such craft see them, so detection methods, scientists believe, need to become less disruptive.

WATCH the footage below…