Vampire Squidward (Vampire Squid)

I have decided to go deep in the Pelagic Zone, into the deep dark abyss, where a new order of the Cephalopod specie from “hell” exists. Rarely seen, with luminous body parts and eyes that will mesmerized any intruder, as it quickly turns inside out, cloaking itself and disappearing into the dark.

My third and mysterious of creature is so named in latin “Vampyroteuthis infernalis – meaning “Vampire squid from hell”. The Vampire squid is in the seventh order in the class Cephalopod, the “Vampyromorphida” and the only surviving member. It shares similarities to both squid and Octopus.

Now you might think that with a name like “Vampire squid from hell”, or features like blue haze or bloody red eyes, which proportionally is the largest in the animal kingdom. Gelatinous body varying in color, velvety jet black and sometimes pale reddish brown, or the unusual webbing cloak skin between the 8 arms, inside is black, each lined with rows of fleshy spines know as cirri and suckers distal half of the arms. Or maybe it’s the pair of retractable sensory filaments similar to the two long tentacles found on other squid species, which extends past its body, or even the powerful beak-like jaws, white as ivory, that it would be a monster of a creature, but no! Vampire squid from hell reaches about a foot long – 30cm long! And yes females are larger than males.

Vampire squid reproduce by the male depositing capsule of sperm into the sac of the female. It is not known how long it takes before the female fertilizes the eggs, before discharging it directly into the water. Eggs of the squid are small and opaque, reaching a size of about eight millimeters, and are found free floating in small masses in the deep. When the eggs hatch, there is three morphologic forms; at the earliest and intermediate phases of development, there is a pair of ear-like fins located near the eyes; as the animal develops, this pair gradually disappears as the other pair develops. When it reaches maturity, the original pair is reabsorbed. The new fins change the Vampire squid’s swimming style from jet propulsion to fin propulsion - flapping of the fins.

Knowing the Vampire squid size now, the next logical question would be. So how does it survive from predators and what does it feed on? To understand its defense mechanism, and food source, first we need to know its environment, its habitat. Specimens have been collected from tropical and subtropical waters all over the world. It lives in depths of 1800-3000 feet or more? It is the only cephalopod that lives its entire life cycle in the core of the Oxygen Minimum Layer (OML). This of course means that Vampire squid’s metabolic must be very low to survive in such conditions. Vampire squid are carnivorous, which means, meat for dinner! Copepods, prawns, and cnidarians are known food of the Vampire squid, and at that depth, a Vampire squid can’t be too picky.

And as for its predators, Vampire squid have been found among the stomach contents of large deep water fish and deep diving whales. I guess that explains its enemies. But the most interesting is the way the Vampire squid defends itself. It is quite enlightening actually. The Vampire squid is almost entirely covered in light-producing organs called “photophores”. When threatened, the Vampire squid moves its fins toward the funnel and emits a jet of water from the mantle. The arms and web turns itself inside out and over the head and mantle, protecting it. As for the arms, the Vampire squid is able to regenerate it if an arm is bitten off. Light producing organs on the tip of each arm and at the base of each fin begin to glow and pulse and the arms begin to writhe. If a predator touches the Vampire squid, it ejects a mucus containing thousands of “glowing spheres of blue bioluminescent light”. When the lights’ begin to disappear, the Vampire squid from hell also disappears into the deep dark abyss.