The ram’s horn squid has never been officially recorded in its natural habitat despite their small shells being a common find on beaches all over the world.

A remotely operated vehicle was sent to the depths of the Great Barrier Reef by researchers at the Schmidt Ocean Institute.

The hour long footage was live streamed on YouTube and features the squid around 13 minutes in.

The scientists had no idea what they were looking at when the odd-looking three inch long squid first popped up on the camera.

The creature, with its bulging eyes, eight arms and two tentacles, was found 2,790 feet below the surface, where the sunlight just about reaches.

3The squid seemed to leave this ink behind as it dashed awayCredit: Schmidt Ocean / YouTube

Beneath its cylinder shaped outer body is a shell with gas chambers that help it to stay buoyant.

The Schmidt Ocean Institute excitedly shared its findings on Twitter.

It wrote: "Exciting news! This appears to be the FIRST observation of Spirula, aka ram’s horn squid, alive + in its natural environment.

"Very rarely seen or captured, they have many extinct relatives, but are only living member of genus Spirula, family Spirulidae, and order Spirulida."

Cuttlefish and ram’s horn squid are the only creatures known to have a internal chambered shell for buoyancy purposes.

3The position of the shell inside the squid can be seen in this illustrationCredit: Ewald Rũbsamen / Wikimedia Commons

The way the squid oritantes itself in the water is now leading scientists to question what they thought they knew.

In aquariums, captured squid tend to swim with their heads hanging down but in the video the squid is doing the opposite.

Zoologist Michael Vecchione told Science Alert: "A lot of people are freaking out because the head is up.

"And the reason they’re freaking out is because the shell with its buoyancy is at the other end of the squid. So you’d think the head, which is heavier, would be hanging down."

There’s also been some buzz around the ink that the squid leaves behind when it dashes away.

This could be part of their defence mechanism and has given researchers more to think about.

In other animal news, whales, dolphins and porpoises are facing ’imminent’ extinction, according to over 350 experts.

An amateur fisherman has snared the first ever "albino" shark caught off the coast of Britain.

And, scary megalodon sharks that roamed our oceans millions of years ago could grow to over 50 feet, according to a new study.

What do you make of the spooky squid footage? Let us know in the comments...