The creatures that live in the deep ocean don’t have to be big to be scary. Consider an animal that’s only about a foot long, and about the same consistency as a jellyfish. Its spooky appearance earned it a spooky name: Vampyroteuthis infernalis -- “vampire squid from hell.”
Vampire squid. Credit: Brad SeibelIt’s not actually a squid, though. It has some of the same traits as a squid, but other traits that are more like an octopus. It has a short, cone-shaped body with two big fins at the top. Eight “arms” extend from the base of the body, connected by a thin webbing. Two long, retractable filaments extend from the body.
Vampyroteuthis is well adapted to survive in its dark environment -- typically depths of about 2,000 to 3,000 feet.
Its eyes, for example, are larger in comparison to the rest of its body than any other animal on the planet. And its arms and body are lined with special cells that produce light.
The vampire “fishes” for prey with the long filaments. When a shrimp or small fish brushes up against it, the vampire pulls in the filament, then circles around, engulfs it with its webbed arms, and pulls it in to its mouth.
And when it’s threatened, Vampyroteuthis pulls the arms and webbing over its body, forming a protective sheath. It also creates flashes of light to confuse the predator, then uses its fins to squirt away at high speed. This small creature with the fearsome name is found around the world, cruising the dark depths of the underworld -- far below the surface of the sea.
