Time is running out for a research team scouring the ocean around Bermuda for giant octopi.

Backed by $160,000 from a UK entrepreneur, a renowned National Geographic photographer, the month-long survey was hoping to capture what may be the very first pictures of a giant octopus.

But the search ends this week and so far all that has appeared are pictures of rare six-gilled sharks and other sea creatures -- without an octopus to be seen.

Local explorer Teddy Tucker is with the team, which also includes Titanic photographer Emory Kristof and British chess grandmaster James Plaskett.

They are working with hi-tech cameras about 12 miles off the Island -- between the Argus and Challenger Banks.

Mr. Plaskett said the chances of picturing a giant octopus now appear slender.

"We have no evidence of giant octopus but lots of pictures of six-gilled sharks. We live in hope, Kristof helped to find the Titanic -- so we thought he was the right man for the job,'' he said.

Up to now, the only possible photos of giant octopi -- which are believed to grow up to 200 feet across with tentacles -- have been of dead carcasses washed on beaches.

Dr. Wolfgang Sterrer, curator of the Bermuda Aquarium, said the creatures are extremely elusive and rarely come to the surface.

"National Geographic did send a team to New Zealand a while ago, they came back empty-handed,'' he said.

"Teddy Tucker seems to have a knack of attracting weird things. He has so much experience and a long record of working with National Geographic.

"It would be wonderful if they got pictures.'' Funding the adventure is British businessman Cliff Stanford, who was inspired by Peter Benchley's The Beast -- a story based on Bermudian fisherman John Sean Ingham's encounter with a mystery "beast'' which is said to have towed his vessel for half a mile.

Setting out each day on the boat owned by Mr. Tucker, Miss Wendy , the crew are spending up to 12 hours towing the digital Rope-Cam at depths of 3,000 ft.

The cameras are fixed inside cages with crabs as bait, and they believe they have a 50/50 chance of getting a picture of an octopus -- or at the least some unusual sharks.

Strong currents are understood to operate in the area and the research team found their cable-mounted cameras being dragged along by the water.

British chess Grand Master, James Plaskett MAGAZINE NJ SEA