Fishermen on a Japanese boat inadvertently snagged something a lot larger than their usual amberjack fish: a giant squid, still alive.

The male squid was approximately 26 feet long and weighed 360 pounds. The creature was initially snagged 229 feet below the surface, off the coast of Niigata.

"We were about 30 minutes into our day when this large, reddish-brown thing came swimming up from the depths," fisherman Shingenori Goto told Reuters. "I was surprised—there's no other word for it. We all started shouting 'giant squid, giant squid' all at once."

The animal, which died shortly after capture, was taken to a government research institute in Niigata for further study.

Back in 2005, Japanese scientists first observed and photographed a giant squid in the wild.

Video: Japanese Fisherman Net Giant Squid