Explorers capture mysterious deep-sea squid alive on camera for the first time: 'What are the odds?'

The Gonatus antarcticus squid, a mysterious squid found only in the frigid waters around Antarctica, was caught on camera for the first time on Christmas Day by the Schmidt Ocean Institute.

The footage was caught by a deep-sea vessel known as SuBastian. The vessel dropped 7,000 feet through the ocean on Christmas morning, stumbling upon a deep-sea quid species.

"This is, to the best of my knowledge, the first live footage of this animal worldwide," said Kat Bolstad, head of the Auckland University of Technology's Lab for Cephalopod Ecology and Systematics-known as the AUT Squid Squad.

Bolstad identified the three-foot-long squid as Gonatus antarcticus-the Antarctic Gonate squid.

The squid had never before been seen alive, only from carcasses in fishing nets or in stomachs of other marine animals.

Learn more about the elusive squid and National Geographic's mission here.