An interesting phenomenon in relation to the growth of the vampire squid occurs in the metamorphosis of the size, shape, and position of the squid's fins. When the squid's mantle is 15-25mm in length, the squid begins to grow a second pair of fins more anteriorly than the first pair. When the new pair of fins reach maturity, the original pair is reabsorbed. The development of the new pair of fins changes the vampire squid's swimming style from jet propulsion to using the fins for propulsion. Another interesting development in the vampire squid has to do with the sensory filament which were first thought to be modified arms. Scientists now know that the composition and structure of the filaments is completely different from the arms. As a result, the sensory filaments are believed to be a "uniquely derived" trait.
(Portner, et al 1994, Wood 1999)
The vampire squid and its habitat are not threatened.
US Federal List: no special status
CITES: no special status
The vampire squid also does not have a negative economic benefit to humans.
The vampire squid has no positive economic benefit to humans.
Carnivorous. The vampire squid has the lowest mass-specific metabolic rate of any cephalopod because of its decreased reliance on locomotion for escaping predators and capturing prey in the light-limited deep sea. The vampire squid uses its sensory filaments to find food in the deep sea and also has a highly developed statocyst indicating that it descends slowly and balances in the water almost effortlessly. Despite its name and reputation, Vampyroteuthis infernalis is not an agressive predator. While drifting, the squid deploys one filament at a time until one of them contacts an animal of prey. The squid then swims around in a circle hoping to catch the prey.
(Seibel, et al 1998, Wood and Ellis 1999, Wood 1999)
The vampire squid occupies meso- to bathypelagic depths throughout the world's tropical and temperate oceans where little to no light penetrates. The vampire squid is vertically distributed between depths of 300-3000m with a majority of vampire squids occupying depths of 1,500-2,500m. Studies conducted at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute in California revealed that the Vampyroteuthis infernalis is confined to the oxygen minimum layer in this bay at an average depth of 690m and oxygen levels of 0.22 ml/l. The vampire squid's north-south distribution is localized between the fortieth degree north and south latitudes where the water is 2-6 degrees Celsius.
(Grzimek 1972)
(Wood and Ellis 1999)
Biogeographic Regions: indian ocean (Native ); atlantic ocean (Native ); pacific ocean (Native )
The vampire squid lives in the tropical and subtropical oceans of the world at depths ranging from 300-3000m with a majority of squids living between the ranges of 1,500-2,500m. Vampire squids live in the oxygen minimum layer of the ocean where virtually no light penetrates. The vampire squid prefers a temperature between 2 and 6 degrees Celsius.
(Grzimek 1972)
Aquatic Biomes: benthic ; oceanic vent ; coastal
Vampyroteuthis infernalis has eight long arms and two retractile filaments that can extend well past the total length of the animal and can be retracted into pockets within the web. These filaments function as sensors because of the cirri that cover the entire length of the arm with suckers only on the distal half. There are also two fins on the dorsal surface of the mantle. The vampire squid is so named because of its jet-black skin, webbing between the arms, and red eyes - supposedly characteristics of a vampire. The squid is considered small - reaching a maximum length of 28 cm with the approximate size of a football. There is sexual dimorphism in size: females are larger than males.
The vampire squid has the consistency of a jellyfish, but its most intriguing physical characteristic is that it has proportionally the largest eyes of any animal in the world. A squid six inches long will have eyes that are an in inch across which are comparable to the eye size of a full grown dog.
The vampire squid has black chromatophores with reddish-brown ones interspersed. In contrast to other cephalopods, these chromatophores are non-functional because they have lost the muscles that enable rapid color change. The vampire shares most other features with other octopods and decapods, but it has several adaptations that allow it to live in a deep-sea environment. The loss of most of the active chromatophores and the ink sac are just two examples. The vampire squid also has photophores which are large circular organs which are located posterior to each adult fin and are also distributed over the surface of the mantle, funnel, head, and aboral surface. These photoreceptors produce luminescent clouds of glowing particles that allow the vampire squid to glow.
(Grzimek 1972, Wood and Ellis 1999, Wood 1999)
Other Physical Features: ectothermic ; bilateral symmetry
Because small vampire squids occupy deeper water than larger squids, spawning probably occurs in very deep water. It is most likely that males transfer spermatophores to the female from their funnel. The female vampire squid is larger than the male and discharges the fertilized eggs directly into the water. Mature eggs are fairly large at 3-4mm in diameter and are found free-floating in small masses in deep water.
(Grzimek 1972, Young 1999)
The Vampire Squid (Vampyroteuthis infernalis) is the single living representative of the cephalopod group known as the Vampyromorpha. It is a small (mantle length to 13 cm), gelatinous species that occurs in mesopelagic to bathypelagic depths (typically between 600 and 1200 m) in temperate and tropical waters of the Pacific, Atlantic, and Indian Oceans.At these depths, sunlight is limited or entirely absent, oxygen content is low, and temperatures range from about 2° to 6° C.In the North Pacific, V. infernalis occurs as far north as the Aleutian Islands.
When observed in its natural habitat, the Vampire Squid has the appearance of a robust and substantial animal, but this impression is somewhat misleading. In fact, its body is very soft, with watery tissues and little dense musculature. It has a very low metabolic rate and lives at extremely low oxygen concentrations, yet it is capable of relatively high swimming speeds, relying on its fins rather than jet propulsion. Although several authors have suggested that Vampire Squids mainly move passively like jellyfish, recent work has shown that, despite having a metabolic rate lower than that measured for any other cephalopod (and, indeed, comparable to many jellyfishes), adult Vampire Squids engage in fairly active fin swimming. This is a more energetically efficient mode of locomotion than the jet propulsion more typical of cephalopods, including juvenile Vampire Squids.
Light production by Vampire Squids has been observedfrom large, paired, complex photophores at the bases of the fins, from organs at the tips of all eight arms, and from luminous fluid released by the arm tips (Robison et al. 2003).
Based on limited evidence, Vampire Squids have been reported in the literature to feed on copepods, prawns, and cnidarians. Hoving and Robison (2012) report that ingested items extracted from captured specimens have included the remains of gelatinous zooplankton, discarded larvacean houses, crustacean remains, diatoms, and fecal pellets. Remarkably, investigations have recently revealed that Vampire Squids obtain much or all of their energy as detritivores, i.e., from non-living particles captured from the water column (all other known cephalopods actively capture live prey). This research (see Hoving and Robison 2012) is discussed in this video from the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute. Vampire Squids are themselves eaten by deep-diving fishes, pinnipeds, whales, and benthopelagic fishes (based on the presence of Vampire Squid beaks in the stomachs of these predators).
The Vampire Squid combines morphological features associated with both octopuses and squids and cuttlefishes. Although based on morphological comparisons the Vampire Squid has been proposed to be the sister group to the octopods, based on their molecular phylogenetic analyses Yokobori et al. (2007) question this conclusion and suggest that unless new data provide greater resolution, the octopods, the Vampire Squid, and the squids and cuttlefishes should be recognized as the three major groups of non-nautiloid cephalopods.
The Vampire Squid's name refers to its jet-black skin, the caped appearance of the webbing between the arms, and eyes that appear red under some light conditions. The great naturalist explorer William Beebe (1926, cited in Seibel et al 1998) described the Vampire Squid as "a very small but terrible octopus, black as night, with ivory white jaws and blood red eyes", although modern observations indicate that it is actually a rather docile animal.
(Seibel et al. 1998 and references therein; Robison et al. 2003 and references therein; Bower et al. 2006)
Most coleoid cephalopods are thought to live very short lives and only go through only one life cycle in their life (Van Heukelem, W. F. 1973). However, there is new evidence that the vampire squid (Vampyroteuthis infernalis), actually goes through many reproductive cycles in its life. After spawning their eggs, the female vampire squid will return to a resting reproductive state, which is followed by the development of a new batch of eggs. There is evidence that vampire squids carry out this process more than 20 times in one lifetime (Hoving et al. 2015)! Since all cephalopods, with the exception of the nautilus, only undergo one reproductive cycle before dying, this discovery represents a change in what we once thought was characteristic of all coleoid cephalopods. Because the vampire squid lives in the oxygen minimum zone, where nutrients and oxygen needed to grow fast are scarce, it grows much slower than its coleoid relatives. Slower growth and high adult survival rates favor iteroparity (reproducing many times in one lifetime) over semelparity (reproducing once in a lifetime) because it maximizes juvenile recruitment of this species in its unforgiving environment.
The vampire squid (Vampyroteuthis infernalis, lit. 'vampire squid from hell') is a small cephalopod found throughout temperate and tropical oceans in extreme deep sea conditions.[2] The vampire squid uses its bioluminescent organs and its unique oxygen metabolism to thrive in the parts of the ocean with the lowest concentrations of oxygen. It has two long retractile filaments, located between the first two pairs of arms on its dorsal side,[3] which distinguish it from both octopuses and squids, and places it in its own order, Vampyromorphida, although its closest relatives are octopods. As a phylogenetic relict, it is the only known surviving member of its order.[4]
The first specimens were collected on the Valdivia Expedition and were originally described as an octopus in 1903 by German teuthologist Carl Chun, but later assigned to a new order together with several extinct taxa.
The vampire squid was discovered during the Valdivia Expedition (1898–1899), led by Carl Chun. Chun was a zoologist who was inspired by the Challenger Expedition, and wanted to verify that life does indeed exist below 300 fathoms (550 meters).[5] Chun later classified the vampire squid into its family, Vampyroteuthidae.[3] This expedition was funded by the German society Gesellschaft Deutscher Naturforscher und Ärzte, a group of German scientists who believed there was life at depths greater than 550 meters, contrary to the Abyssus theory. Valdivia was fitted with equipment for the collection of deep-sea organisms, as well as laboratories and specimen jars, in order to analyze and preserve what was caught. The voyage began in Hamburg, Germany, followed by Edinburgh, and then traced around the west coast of Africa. After navigating around the southern point of Africa, the expedition studied deep areas of the Indian and Antarctic Ocean.[6]
The vampire squid can reach a maximum total length around 30 cm (1 ft). Its 15-centimetre (5.9 in) gelatinous body varies in colour from velvety jet-black to pale reddish, depending on location and lighting conditions. A webbing of skin connects its eight arms, each lined with rows of fleshy spines or cirri; the inner side of this "cloak" is black. Only the distal halves (farthest from the body) of the arms have suckers. Its limpid, globular eyes, which appear red or blue, depending on lighting, are proportionately the largest in the animal kingdom at 2.5 cm (1 in) in diameter.[7] The name of the animal was inspired by its dark colour, and cloaklike webbing, rather than habit—it feeds on detritus, not blood.[8][9]
Mature adults have a pair of small fins projecting from the lateral sides of the mantle. These earlike fins serve as the adult's primary means of propulsion: vampire squid move through the water by flapping their fins. Their beaklike jaws are white. Within the webbing are two pouches wherein the tactile velar filaments are concealed. The filaments are analogous to a true squid's tentacles, extending well past the arms; but differ in origin, and represent the pair that was lost by the ancestral octopus.
The vampire squid is almost entirely covered in light-producing organs called photophores, capable of producing disorienting flashes of light ranging in duration from fractions of a second to several minutes. The intensity and size of the photophores can also be modulated. Appearing as small, white discs, the photophores are larger and more complex at the tips of the arms and at the base of the two fins, but are absent from the undersides of the caped arms. Two larger, white areas on top of the head were initially believed to also be photophores, but are now identified as photoreceptors.
The chromatophores (pigment organs) common to most cephalopods are poorly developed in the vampire squid. The animal is, therefore, incapable of changing its skin colour in the dramatic fashion of shallow-dwelling cephalopods, though such ability would not be useful at the lightless depths where it lives.
The vampire squid is an extreme example of a deep sea cephalopod, thought to reside at aphotic (lightless) depths from 600 to 900 metres (2,000 to 3,000 ft) or more. Within this region of the world's oceans is a discrete habitat known as the oxygen minimum zone (OMZ). Within the zone, the saturation of oxygen is too low to support aerobic metabolism in most complex organisms. The vampire squid is the only cephalopod able to live its entire life cycle in the minimum zone, at oxygen saturations as low as 3%.
The vampire squid's worldwide range is confined to the tropics and subtropics.[10]
To cope with life in the suffocating depths, vampire squids have developed several adaptations: Of all deep-sea cephalopods, their mass-specific metabolic rate is the lowest. Their blue blood's hemocyanin binds and transports oxygen more efficiently than in other cephalopods,[11] aided by gills with an especially large surface area. The animals have weak musculature, but maintain agility and buoyancy with little effort because of sophisticated statocysts (balancing organs akin to a human's inner ear)[12] and ammonium-rich gelatinous tissues closely matching the density of the surrounding seawater. The vampire squid's ability to thrive in OMZs also keeps it safe from apex predators that require a large amount of oxygen to live.[13]
The vampire squid possesses large eyes and optic lobes which may be an adaptation to increase sensitivity for long-ranging detection of bioluminescence and monitoring a huge water volume where density of prey and mates is low.[14]
Like many deep-sea cephalopods, the vampire squid lacks ink sacs. If disturbed, it will curl its arms up outwards and wrap them around its body, turning itself inside-out in a way, exposing spiny projections.[15] If highly agitated, it may eject a sticky cloud of bioluminescent mucus containing innumerable orbs of blue light from the arm tips. This luminous barrage, which may last nearly 10 minutes, would presumably serve to dazzle would-be predators and allow the vampire squid to disappear into the blackness without the need to swim far. The glowing ink is also able to stick to the predator, creating what is called a burglar alarm (making the vampire squid's predator more visible to secondary predators). The display is made only if the animal is very agitated, because regenerating the mucus is metabolically costly. The vampire squid also has bioluminescent organs at the end of each of its arms, using them as a lure to attract prey. The ends of squid's arms are also regenerative, so if they are bitten off, they can be used as a diversion allowing the animal to escape while its predator is distracted.[16]
Few specifics are known regarding the ontogeny of the vampire squid. Their development progresses through three morphologic forms: the very young animals have a single pair of fins, an intermediate form has two pairs, and the mature form again has one. At their earliest and intermediate phases of development, a pair of fins is located near the eyes; as the animal develops, this pair gradually disappears as the other pair develops.[17] As the animals grow and their surface area to volume ratio drops, the fins are resized and repositioned to maximize gait efficiency. Whereas the young propel themselves primarily by jet propulsion, mature adults find flapping their fins to be the most efficient means.[18] This unique ontogeny caused confusion in the past, with the varying forms identified as several species in distinct families.[19]
If hypotheses may be drawn from knowledge of other deep-sea cephalopods, the vampire squid likely reproduces slowly by way of a small number of large eggs. Ovulation is irregular and there is minimal energy devotion into the development of the gonad.[20] Growth is slow, as nutrients are not abundant at depths frequented by the animals. The vastness of their habitat and its sparse population make procreative encounters a fortuitous event. The female may store a male's hydraulically implanted spermatophore (a tapered, cylindrical satchel of sperm) for long periods before she is ready to fertilize her eggs. Once she does, she may need to brood over them for up to 400 days before they hatch. Their reproductive strategy appears to be iteroparous, which is an exception amongst the otherwise semelparous Coleoidea.[21] During their life, Coleoidea cephalopods are thought to go through only one reproductive cycle whereas vampire squid have shown evidence of multiple reproductive cycles. After releasing their eggs, new batches of eggs are formed after the female vampire squid returns to resting. This process may repeat up to, and sometimes more than, twenty times.[20] It has been hypothesized that the iteroparous lifestyle of the vampire squid has evolved with the squid's relaxed lifestyle. With iteroparity often seen in organisms with high adult survival rates, such as the vampire squid, many low-cost reproductive cycles would be expected for the species.[21]
Hatchlings are about 8 mm in length and are well-developed miniatures of the adults, with some differences. Their arms lack webbing, their eyes are smaller, and their velar filaments are not fully formed.[22] The hatchlings are transparent and survive on a generous internal yolk for an unknown period before they begin to actively feed.[22] The smaller animals frequent much deeper waters, perhaps feeding on marine snow (falling organic detritus). The mature vampire squid is also thought to be an opportunistic hunter of larger prey as fish bones, other squid flesh, and gelatinous matter has been recorded in mature vampire squid stomachs.[23]
Reproduction of the vampire squid is unlike any other coleoid cephalopod. During mating the males pass a “packet” of sperm to a female and the female accepts it and stores it in a special pouch inside her mantle. When the female is ready, she will use the packet to reproduce. The females spawn eggs in separate spawning “events” when she feels the necessity to reproduce. These spawning events happen quite far apart due to the vampire squid's low metabolic rate, meaning they take a long time to accumulate the necessary resources to spawn. This is very rare and needs further research done on it.[20]
What behavioral data is known has been gleaned from ephemeral encounters with ROVs; animals are often injured during capture, and survive up to two months in aquaria, although it is hypothesized that they can live for over eight years.[21] An artificial environment makes reliable observation of non-defensive behavior difficult. In May 2014, Monterey Bay Aquarium (California, United States) became the first to ever put this species on display.[24][25]
With their long velar filaments deployed, vampire squids have been observed drifting along in the deep, black ocean currents. If the filaments contact an entity, or if vibrations impinge upon them, the animals investigate with rapid acrobatic movements. They are capable of swimming at speeds equivalent to two body lengths per second, with an acceleration time of five seconds. However, their weak muscles limit stamina considerably.
Unlike their relatives living in more hospitable climates, deep-sea cephalopods cannot afford to expend energy in protracted flight. Given their low metabolic rate and the low density of prey at such depths, vampire squids must use innovative predator avoidance tactics to conserve energy. Their aforementioned bioluminescent "fireworks" are combined with the writhing of glowing arms, erratic movements, and escape trajectories, making it difficult for a predator to identify multiple targets. The vampire squid's retractile filaments have been suggested to play a larger role in predator avoidance via both detection and escape mechanisms.[3]
In a threat response called the "pumpkin" or "pineapple" posture, the vampire squid inverts its caped arms back over the body, presenting an ostensibly larger form covered in fearsome-looking though harmless spines (called cirri).[26] The underside of the cape is heavily pigmented, masking most of the body's photophores. The glowing arm tips are clustered together far above the animal's head, diverting attack away from critical areas. If a predator were to bite off an arm tip, the vampire squid can regenerate it.
Vampire squid have eight arms but lack feeding tentacles, and instead use two retractile filaments in order to capture food. These filaments have small hairs on them, made up of many sensory cells, that help them detect and secure their prey. They combine waste with mucus secreted from suckers to form balls of food. As sedentary generalists, they feed on detritus, including the remains of gelatinous zooplankton (such as salps, larvaceans, and medusae jellies) and complete copepods, ostracods, amphipods, and isopods,[13][9] as well as faecal pellets of other aquatic organisms that live above.[27] Vampire squids also use a unique luring method where they purposefully agitate bioluminescent protists in the water as a way to attract larger prey for them to consume.[13]
Vampire squids have been found among the stomach contents of large, deepwater fish, including giant grenadiers,[28] and deep-diving mammals, such as whales and sea lions.
The Vampyromorphida is the extant sister taxon to all octopuses. Phylogenetic studies of cephalopods using multiple genes and mitochondrial genomes have shown that the Vampyromorphida are the first group of Octopodiformes to evolutionarily diverge from all others.[29][30][31] The Vampyromorphida is characterized by derived characters such as the possession of photophores and of two velar filaments which are most probably modified arms. It also shares the inclusion of an internal gladius with other coleoids, including squid, and eight webbed arms with cirrate octopods.
Vampyroteuthis shares its eight cirrate arms with the Cirrata, in which lateral cirri, or filaments, alternate with the suckers. Vampyroteuthis differs in that suckers are present only on the distal half of the arms while cirri run the entire length. In cirrate octopods suckers and cirri run and alternate on the entire length. Also, a close relationship between Vampyroteuthis and the Jurassic-Cretaceous Loligosepiina is indicated by the similarity of their gladii, the internal stiffening structure. Vampyronassa rhodanica from the middle Jurassic La Voulte-sur-Rhône of France is considered as one of a vampyroteuthid that shares some characters with Vampyroteuthis.[32]
The supposed vampyromorphids from the Kimmeridgian-Tithonian (156–146 mya) of Solnhofen, Plesioteuthis prisca, Leptoteuthis gigas, and Trachyteuthis hastiformis, cannot be positively assigned to this group; they are large species (from 35 cm in P. prisca to> 1 m in L. gigas) and show features not found in vampyromorphids, being somewhat similar to the true squids, Teuthida.[33]
The vampire squid is currently not on any endangered or threatened species list and they have no known impact on humans.[34]
Following an article in Rolling Stone magazine by Matt Taibbi[35] after the subprime mortgage crisis of 2008, the term "vampire squid" has been regularly used in popular culture to refer to Goldman Sachs, the American investment bank.[36][37][38]
Real vampire squids are shown in the "Ocean Deep" episode of Planet Earth.
The vampire squid (Vampyroteuthis infernalis, lit. 'vampire squid from hell') is a small cephalopod found throughout temperate and tropical oceans in extreme deep sea conditions. The vampire squid uses its bioluminescent organs and its unique oxygen metabolism to thrive in the parts of the ocean with the lowest concentrations of oxygen. It has two long retractile filaments, located between the first two pairs of arms on its dorsal side, which distinguish it from both octopuses and squids, and places it in its own order, Vampyromorphida, although its closest relatives are octopods. As a phylogenetic relict, it is the only known surviving member of its order.
The first specimens were collected on the Valdivia Expedition and were originally described as an octopus in 1903 by German teuthologist Carl Chun, but later assigned to a new order together with several extinct taxa.
