You may think you’re looking at an alien, but this is an extraordinarily rare glimpse of a deep-sea cephalopod known...

You may think you’re looking at an alien, but this is an extraordinarily rare glimpse of a deep-sea cephalopod known as the Bigfin Squid from the family Magnapinnidae. It was caught on camera in 2007 by a Shell Oil Company ROV at a depth of 2386 meters (roughly 1.5 miles) at the Perdido oil drilling site down in the Gulf of Mexico. This fantastic image is a composite created using the haunting ROV video footage. 

Magnapinna squids are one of the deep-sea more ethereal creatures. Little is known of these squid as very few have ever been captured, although over the last decade with the increased usage of remotely operated vehicles (ROV) and submersibles more and more video is emerging of them.

They are unusual in both that the fins are up to 90% of the length of the body, i.e. the mantle, and the ridiculously long length of the arms. The squid often will hold some of the arms at a 90˚ angles from the side of the body.

Source:
http://deepseanews.com/2013/11/an-amazing-image-of-the-elusive-big-fin-squid/

Reference:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bigfin_squid

Watch the video:
Deep-sea squid (Magnapinna sp.)