Vampire Squid

Phylum: Mollusca

Class: Cephalopoda

Order: Vampyromorphida

Family: Vampyroteuthidae

Genus: Vampyroteuthis

Species: V. infernalis

Characteristics

Vampyroteuthis infernalis, or the Vampire squid, has characteristics of both squids and octopods, but they are actually neither. The Vampire squid has remained unchanged for millions of years and would be considered a living fossil. They are classified as cephalopods, the only species in the Order Vampyromopha, and are considered to be a sister-group to Octopoda. They have eight arms like the octopus but instead of eight separate arms, they are joined to one another by webbing that kind of look like a cloak; indicating to their name the Vampire squid.

Habitat

The Vampire squid can be found all over the world throughout temperate and tropical oceans at a depth range between 600 and 900m. At this depth, the area is called an oxygen minimum zone because it is usually low in dissolved oxygen.Oxygen minimum zones are typically in areas beneath upwelling’s, or where cold water is moved from below to replace water at the surface. Upwelling’s are usually areas with a lot of carbon and high productivity of phytoplankton. There usually are not enough metazoans to consume all of the carbon, allowing for much of it to sink to below the area of the upwelling. At this depth, the water does not circulate often and is usually old. Carbon that was not consumed decomposes in particle form as it floats down through this depth of water, allowing for bacterial growth to increase and oxygen levels to decrease. Many animals such as cnidarians, ctenophores, and fish are able to live fully or part of the time in oxygen minimum zones but many other animals are not capable of living in such harsh conditions and could become highly stressed or die if they tried to do so.

Adaptions

The Vampire squid has developed several different adaptions to help it live in the harsh conditions of oxygen minimum zones. The Vampire squid has the ability to suppress aerobic metabolism, allowing them to have the lowest metabolic rate of any other cephalopod relative to their mass. They are also neutrally buoyant, which allows them to stay afloat without having to use energy to swim. Because of this, the Vampire squids body is fairly soft with little muscle. A couple more adaptions that the Vampire squid has to better survive the harsh conditions of living in an oxygen minimum zone, is that they are darkly colored so they can stay cryptically hidden from predators. Being able to stay hidden from predators reduces the chances of having to expend energy trying to get away, even though the Vampire squid has the capability of using its fins to swim at fairly high speeds. The last adaption the Vampire squid has acquired is to deter predators away by exhibiting a bioluminescent display.

Feeding Strategy

The Vampire squid uses two long filaments (almost eight times as long as its body) that can extend and contract to obtain various food items that fall from to the bottom from the surface of the water that is collectively called "marine snow". Marine snow is a combination of decomposed organisms, feces and snot. The Vampire squid is able to pick up marine snow by extending one of its two long filaments to catch the “snow”. The Vampire squid then retracts its filament and rubs it along its arms which secrete a mucus allowing for the snow stuck to the filament to be collected into a ball. Little finger like projections, called cirri, on the arms help move the mucus covered ball towards the Vampire squids mouth for it to eat. Vampire squids are the only cephalopods known to only eat non-living foods, while most other cephalopods have a carnivorous diet.