Still photos taken from the world’s first moving footage of a giant squid in its natural habitat have been released by documentary makers.

It was a joint project between Japanese broadcaster NHK and the Discovery Channel.

The video was shot last July near the Ogasawara islands, and it shows a three-metre-long cephalopod.

Giant squid have proved elusive to deep sea film crews in the past, because they will not go near the lights on their submersibles.

But these documentary makers used a craft kitted out with lights invisible both to human and giant squid eyes.

NHK will air its video footage on January 13, followed by the Discovery Channel on January 27.