Tsunemi Kubodera

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Tsunemi Kubodera (窪寺恒己, Kubodera Tsunemi^?, born 1951 in Nakano, Tokyo^[1]) is a Japanese zoologist with the National Science Museum of Japan. He was the first individual to successfully photograph a living giant squid in its natural habitat on 30 September 2004.^[2] He managed to successfully film a live giant squid for the first time on December 4, 2006.^[3] In 2005, Kubodera became the first to film the Dana Octopus Squid (Taningia danae) in its natural habitat.^[4]

[edit] Finding the giant squid

With Kyoichi Mori of the Ogasawara Whale Watching Association, Kubodera captured photos of the elusive giant squid with his special cameras, after three years of attempts. The cameras, which were able to store 600 photos, were programmed to flash and take a picture every thirty seconds. Tsunemi's hope was that one of these pictures would contain a photograph of the giant squid. The camera was mounted on a line that used two hooks. To this line Kubodera attached two cuttlefish as bait. The line was then lowered to 2950 feet.^[5] A giant squid took the bait and got caught on one of the hook traps. The squid spent more than four hours trying to get free before severing one of its tentacles and fleeing. The tentacle was still moving when the camera was hauled up.^[6] He had a segment on Discovery Channel's special about the giant squid.