Researchers spot bizarre 'googly-eyed' stubby squid 900 feet down on the sea floor off California

It looks uncannily like something you'd expect to see on Sesame Street - and not on the seabed 900 metres down.

The amazing video of the googly-eyed squid has gone viral after it was spotted off the coast of California by a research vessel.

The stubby squid was spotted by  the the E/V Nautilus, which uses a remotely operated underwater vehicle to explore the ocean floor, the Daily Mail reports.

As the drone sub approaches the cephalopod, the team can be heard trying to determine at first whether it is an octopus or cuttlefish.

As the see it, even the scientists are amazed. 

“They look like googly eyes … It looks so fake!” one woman exclaims in the video.

"It's like some little kid dropped their toy.”

Two others in the video comment that the eyes look as though they were painted on.

The team then dissolves into laughter while watching the animal, while one admits “it's freaking me out!' and the other says 'maybe its a cuddlefish!”

The team later determined the cephalopod was a Stubby squid — also known as Rossia pacifica — which is closely related to cuttlefish, according to a description of the video posted by the team that captured the footage.