THEY live 300m below sea level, consume their own body mass in food each day and for the first 120 days of life only feast on live prey.

But despite these obvious challenges, Kiwi scientist Steve O'Shea will attempt to keep a giant squid alive in captivity and break his own world record.

An earlier attempt in 2000 saw the squid specialist reach the 150-day mark.

"The broad squid is very difficult to rear in captivity due to its 3mm size on hatching and the complex changes in diet over the first 60 days in life," Dr O'Shea said.

"But it brings me one step closer to the end game - growing a giant."

Dr O'Shea collected the squid eggs from seaweed in the Hauraki Gulf, near Auckland, and was rearing them in a tank at Auckland University of Technology.

"The end game is to improve our understanding of these deep-sea creatures and how to keep them alive in captivity so that we can experience some of the more exotic, bizarre and fantastic squid that frequent our waters," Dr O'Shea said.

A SQUIDCAM will be set up to allow people around the world to track his record-breaking attempt online.