Watch the first-ever footage of a rare deep-sea squid in the northeastern Pacific

A bizarre squid has been filmed haunting the northeastern Pacific Ocean for the first time.

Researchers spotted the bigfin squid ( Magnapinna ) via remote video while using an uncrewed submersible to explore underwater mountains, known as seamounts, at a depth of more than 10,000 feet (3,000 meters) off the coast of California.

The footage, captured Aug.

7, represents the first confirmed live observation of a bigfin squid in the northeastern Pacific, according to the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI), whose scientists made the discovery with collaborators from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

Olívia Soares Pereira , a deep-sea ecologist and postdoctoral fellow at MBARI, said the squid was hovering over the seafloor with its arms and tentacles bent at a 90-degree angle — what the researchers called the "elbow pose." "Based on the behavior of other deep-sea squids, we believe this pose could be a part of their feeding tactics," Pereira told Live Science in an email.

"The arms and tentacles are extended so they do not get tangled up and passively capture prey that sticks to them." Bigfin squid are the deepest-dwelling known squid and have been found more than 20,000 feet (6,000 m) below the surface.

Most of the animals' total length comes from their tentacles and arms, which can be 20 times longer than their bodies .

The individual in the video was about 4.1 feet (1.25 m) long, including body, tentacles and arms , according to MBARI.

The last time MBARI researchers encountered a bigfin squid was off Hawaii in 2001, though around 70 have been observed or collected in total, according to MBARI.

Pereira said she saw two other bigfin squid during an expedition to the Mid-Atlantic Ridge — located along the Atlantic Ocean floor — with the Schmidt Ocean Institute earlier this year.

"When we saw this one, I couldn't believe my luck!" she added.

RELATED STORIES Haunting blood-red squid with large hooks drifts through Antarctic ocean's midnight zone in world-first video Elusive colossal squid finally caught on camera 100 years after discovery in world 1st footage — and it's tiny Elusive 'octopus squid' with world's largest biological lights attacks camera in striking new video The team was piloting MBARI's Doc Ricketts submersible when they encountered the squid near the Davidson Seamount at a depth of around 10,751 feet (3,277 m), about 80 miles (130 kilometers) southwest of Monterey, during a 10-day Seamount Hotspots expedition between Aug.

3 and Aug.

12.