Terrifying underwater footage reveals moment camera is attacked by rare-deep sea squid with ‘headlights’

A harrowing bit of footage has resurfaced, capturing the moment where a camera was gripped and attacked by a creature in the deep sea.

It's no wonder that people are scared of the sea, with only five percent of our world's oceans explored and mapped out, who knows what the depths of these waters actually hold?

The deep, dark unknown is home to many creepy, alien-looking fish and wildlife that physically can't handle sunlight, with any footage of them near the surface certain to go viral.

In reality, there are creatures down there that scientists may never discover, and the thought of that is enough to send chill down spines.

What would you do if you spotted this on a swim? (UWA/Inkfish)

Footage from GoPros below the surface of the water is enough to kick up a fuss on social media, so what about cameras that go hundreds of feet deeper?

This footage was released last year from scientists that work at the University of Western Australia and Kelpie Geosciences in the UK, and it's left viewers shocked.

In a clip that rivals a sub's interaction with an ancient deep-sea creature up close, where scientists could see its eye, this ranks highly among creepy-yet-educational ocean exploration videos.

It is said that the creature mistook the camera for prey in the South Pacific on Wednesday 8 May, with Associate Professor Stewart stating: “As we were reviewing the footage, we realised we had captured something very rare.”

In the video, a rare squid can be seen wrapping its arms around a camera 1026m below the surface, where it is almost pitch black.

It's not just any rare squid though, known as the Taningia Danae, it can be seen making its approach towards the camera and spreading its tentacles over the camera lens, seemingly thinking that it was something that it could eat.

The species is known for having two incredibly large photophores on the end of two of its tentacles that produce bioluminescence, which have also been described as 'headlights'.

They are the largest known photophores in the known world, and are also known to produce flashes in the dark ocean to disorientate prey while hunting, which can also be seen in the video.

The squid thought that the camera was food, before realising it wasn't and swimming away (UWA/Inkfish)

The equipment captured two angles of the squid wrapping its tentacles around the lens, one from the scene and one from behind, showcasing just how massive the squid is.

Also known as the Dana octopus squid, it is one of the largest known squid species, able to reach a total length of 2.3m. The largest known specimen weighed a whopping 161.4kg.